The Callie Chronicles
by Jinxgirl
Summary: Companion piece to ABC's of Christmas Slayer style and A Little Role Reversal. Buffy and Faith's life with their daughter, a series of ficlets.
1. Blessing

The Callie Chronicles

Author notes: Faith and Buffy are lovers, and Callie is Buffy and Faith's daughter; she was created almost a year ago in my story series "The ABC's of Christmas." Here is the link if you'd like to read:

She was also in the story "A Little Role Reversal." These stories all in some way center around Callie's existence in Buffy and Faith's lives. The first story takes place after the story "U is for Unexpected" where Faith tells Buffy she is pregnant and they realize together that it must have something to do with Willow.

Story one: Blessing

"WILLOW!"

As the name burst forth from both girls' lips simultaneously, the probable explanation for recently realized events dawning, they immediately sprang into action. Faith was off the couch and on her feet in a millisecond, almost flying to the door, and Buffy was right behind her. She didn't say anything to calm or slow the brunette Slayer down; Buffy knew better than to attempt to stop her lover when she had the set, furious look on her face that Faith did now. Buffy wasn't sure she would have tried even if she could have right now, though. She was pretty upset too.

If Willow had really done what she thought she had… how could she? How could she have done that to Faith, messed with both their lives like that, without so much as asking?

A baby…somehow, Faith was going to have a baby. She was pregnant… somehow Willow must have done some magical thing to make her pregnant. Buffy believed Faith when she swore she hadn't had sex with a man…so that was the only possibility left. But why would Willow do that? A joke- some kind of vengeance against Faith's constant teasing and pranks? Or did she really think they would have wanted a baby? Had she been trying to help? But why wouldn't she have ASKED- and surely she would at least know that FAITH wouldn't want to be pregnant!

Buffy had barely had time to open the door to the passenger side of Faith's car before the younger Slayer was screeching out of the driveway, almost killing a squirrel and backing up into another car in the process. Buffy quickly buckled her seatbelt but didn't dare suggest that Faith put on hers. Her white knuckles on the steering wheel, steadily darkening expression, and heavily furrowed eyebrows told her assuredly that any attempts to correct Faith's driving or anything of the like would not be well received in her current state.

Upon pulling into the driveway of Willow's house, Faith had hardly put the car into park before she flung the door open, almost aggressively enough to rip it off its hinges, and stalked up to Willow's porch. There was no sign of her earlier tears in her nearly homicidal expression or overbearing movements, and as Buffy hastened to catch up to her, Faith roughly tried to open the door. When she saw that it was locked she gave the door a strong kick, causing it to swing open hurriedly, its doorknob breaking off. Buffy started to call her name, knowing that by this point Faith /really/ needed to calm down, but Faith stormed past her practically in a blur. Buffy actually had to run to catch up to her.

When Buffy came into the living room behind Faith, she saw Willow had been sitting on her couch, her laptop computer on her lap. She didn't see Kennedy; maybe the other Slayer was training, or else not home. Faith had grabbed hold of the redhead's shoulders roughly, oblivious to the computer balanced delicately between them, and she was shaking her slightly but intently, her face pressed close as she yelled at her.

"What the hell did you do to me?! What the hell is WRONG with you?!"

Willow's eyes were very round with shock, alarmed, and she shrank back against the couch, simultaneously trying to shield her computer from being knocked to the floor and to loosen Faith's grip on her.

"What?" she almost gasped, her voice as bewildered as her expression. "Faith, I…I don't know what you're talking about-"

"Don't fuckin' lie to me!" Faith screeched, giving her another harsh shake, her dark eyes flashing dangerously. Even as enraged as she looked, her dark hair bouncing off her shoulders, her expression wild, almost savage, her movements strong and barely controlled, Buffy could see the embarrassment in her eyes as well. No doubt it killed Faith to think that Willow had got one over on her.

"You think this is funny, Willow- you think it's a fuckin' joke?" Faith snarled, her hands digging into Willow's shoulders so that the girl gasped. "It's not fuckin' funny! You-"

"Faith- Faith, calm down," Buffy interjected quickly, and she moved to take Faith's arm, gently but firmly prying it away from Willow even as she tensed, knowing Faith would not placidly accept this. "You need to calm down so we can talk to her-"

"No! No, Buffy, I don't need to fuckin' calm down, she-" Faith cried out indignantly, ripping her arm from the blonde's grasp- but also in the process letting go of Willow.

Willow let out a slightly shuddering sigh of relief as she moved over on the couch slightly, inching away from Faith and setting her computer beside her on the couch, more out of harm's way. Buffy grabbed Faith's upper arm in one hand, more firmly this time, and held her face with the other, forcing her to turn her face to look at her as she stroked her thumb on Faith's jaw.

"Faith…calm down. She won't be able to explain if you scare her like that," Buffy told her in a reasonable though edgy tone, and Faith glared, but didn't try to break away this time.

"Oh, she better be scared, and she better explain too!"

"Explain what?" Willow asked in total confusion, her forehead creased, eyebrows knitting as her eyes darted between Buffy and Faith, searching out their expressions for answers. "What is it that I'm supposed to be explaining? You guys have totally lost me…and as for the being scared part, yep, I'm just about there."

"You better get lost if you know what's good for you-" Faith vowed, but Buffy maintained a tight hold on her as she stroked Faith's cheek again, addressing her gently.

"Come on, Faith…keep cool," she told her, though she felt stirrings of her own anger as she spoke, more under her control. "Let her explain."

She turned to stare at Willow pointedly. "So. Willow…anything you want to tell us?"

Willow shook her head, almost flabbergasted, spreading out her hands as though at a loss.

"No! I have no idea what you want me to say or what it is you think I did…I have no idea why you came bursting in here screaming at me like, like some crazy maniac- and NO I am not making fun of you, or, or your past, or anything else!" she added hurriedly as Faith's eyes bulged and she made as if to start towards her again, stopped only by Buffy's strong hold of her.

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU DID TO ME?!" Faith shrieked, her voice rising up way more shrilly than Buffy was accustomed to. "YOU MADE ME FUCKIN' PREGNANT, WILLOW!"

After that rather volatile screech, the room went silent for several moments; the only thing Buffy could hear was Faith's slightly heightened breathing and the pounding of both their hearts. When Willow finally replied her voice was slow but sure; she addressed them both as if she thought both Faith and Buffy were either insane or very small children.

"Um…no, Faith, I didn't…see, we've never actually had sex together…and I'm not actually a man."

"Don't be a smartass, you know what you did, you know how you did it!" Faith bellowed, her eyes sparking even more furiously, and Buffy had to quickly wrap her arms around her in a bear hug to keep her from decking the Wiccan in the face. "You made me pregnant!!!"

"No…no, actually, I didn't," Willow repeated slowly, and her eyes slid to Faith's still flat stomach, eyeing it as though trying to see for herself what she was talking about. "Why would you-"

"Oh yeah, so the kid just MAGICALLY showed up inside me without the help of any dick sticking in me, without one single guy anywhere near me butt-ass naked? Just MAGICALLY it shows up?! Are you hearing the key word here, MAGIC?! Who the hell else could do that other then Little Miss Spellcaster?" Faith hollered, her face flushing crimson with anger. She was straining against Buffy's arms, her body rigid, and Buffy tightened them a little more, feeling Faith's heart knocking against her arm. If Willow didn't start talking soon, she didn't know for how much longer she would be able to keep her from smashing the witch girls' face in.

"But I didn't DO anything!" Willow protested, shaking her head again, her eyes wide and earnest. "I didn't do anything to make you pregnant! You don't even LOOK pregnant! I didn't do anything! Except-"

Her face flushed suddenly, and a strange light came over her eyes as she fell suddenly and suspiciously silent. Both Faith and Buffy turned on her rapidly, their voices rising in unision.

"WHAT? Except WHAT?!"

"Well…this can't be it. I mean, that just couldn't be right…it wasn't even a spell, it was more like a blessing," Willow began to babble nervously, seeing the high emotion, namely wrath, in both their eyes and feeling none too safe because of it. "It wasn't supposed to-"

"What. Did. You. Do," Faith asked, each word deliberately and chillingly pronounced, and Willow swallowed. The tone Faith had just used was even scarier than her screaming.

"I…it was just a small ritual, a blessing spell…it was more like a prayer than anything, it shouldn't have done something like THAT! I just…all I did, I was thinking of you two, how, how you're together, and I wanted you to be happy… you know, in your relationship. So, I did a, a little binding spell… not even a spell really, it was just a blessing! I just said, all I did was request that the two of you have a strong and healthy bond with each other that would be unable to be broken… but I guess…if that's why this happened…then it kinda makes sense. I didn't mean to make you pregnant, believe me… but maybe I wasn't specific enough. These things, they don't always turn out like you expect…and hey, I guess a baby would form a pretty strong, unbreakable bond… if that's what happened…"

She narrowed her eyes, shaking her head again as she looked at Faith's stomach closely. "Faith, are you SURE you're pregnant?"

Buffy didn't know if she wanted to cry, scream, punch Willow out, or start laughing hysterically. From the look on Faith's face, she felt the same way…all except for the last option, of course.


	2. Conversaton

Story 2: conversation

Buffy found Faith in the training room of their Slayer headquarters; she had known that she would most likely be there. In the 24 hours since Faith had told her she was pregnant, the younger woman had spent even more time in there than usual. Buffy knew it was her way of coping, or at least of attempting to do so. But by this point Buffy was beginning to worry about her… maybe training so much and withdrawing from her attempts and Willow's attempts to talk to her wasn't such a great idea after all.

Ever since Faith had learned that the child growing inside her was a result of a rather non-specific blessing spell from Willow, she had been edgy and restless, unable to sit still or to be around more than one or two people at a time. She had seemed uneasy with Buffy's touch and continually avoided her eyes- avoiding her, period. Buffy knew Faith hadn't slept the night before… and this was really starting to scare her. She knew Faith must be having a hard time dealing with her knowledge that she was pregnant… but they needed to talk about it. How else would they be able to handle any of it. Surely Faith didn't think they would just totally avoid the subject until the kid decided to make an appearance one day.

Or maybe she did… Faith had grown considerably in the time that Buffy had grown to love her as her lover as well as her sister Slayer, but that didn't mean that she didn't still sometimes try to ignore or run away from things that upset her.

Buffy stood in the doorway of Faith's favorite training room, watching as the brunette mercilessly pummeled a punching bag, using both hands and feet in a focused, very intense wildness that did not pause or slow down. She was alone in the room, and Buffy suspected that she had had to order some baby Slayers out to accomplish this. She was sweating, her thick locks flying about her face as she slammed her fists into the punching bag, short grunts and other aggressive sounds escaping her as she did so. Her face was set grimly, eyes dark, features tight, and Buffy's heart squeezed for her.

All Faith's emotion, all this beating around she was doing…that couldn't be good for the baby, could it be? Didn't they feel their mother's emotion or something like that… Buffy thought she had heard that before.

"Faith," she called to her softly, and when Faith ignored her, she raised her voice. "Faith, will you pleae stop for a minute?"

She knew that this time Faith had heard her, but the other woman hit the bag several more times, as if needing to get out some last bit of anger, or maybe just to prove a point to Buffy. Both were equally likely. Finally stepping back jerkily, letting her fists drop to her sides, Faith stood there breathing deeply, sweating, her limbs shaking just barely perceptibly. Her shoulders slumped forward, and as Buffy started towards her, she saw that her knuckles were split and bleeding, and odd enough in appearance that Buffy thought one might be broken. She was astonished that Faith hadn't broken the bag- Giles must have had another one specially designed, the way the girls went through them now.

Reaching her side, Buffy gently took Faith's hands into both of hers, turning them over to examine them carefully. Faith didn't flinch, nor did she say or do anything to stop her, but neither would she look Buffy in the eye. Sighing, Buffy stroked her thumbs over the back of Faith's hands. She knew they would fully heal, but she still hated to see when Faith did things like that to herself, knowing the pain and frustration behind it.

"Go sit on the bench," she said softly, letting go, and Faith did as she asked, finally lifting her eyes to watch as Buffy went to the cabinet to get one of the many first aid its inside. As she went to side beside Faith, she paused, first tenderly tucking an unruly lock of hair behind her ear before taking her right hand in her own, beginning to dab at the blood. She loved her so much… she only wished that Faith would talk to her sometimes before, rather than after, she felt she had to do things like that.

"You don't' have to do this, B," Faith muttered, her eyes on Buffy's hands as they tended to her. "I can take care of it. No big deal."

"I don't' have to," Buffy replied quietly, "but I want to. So let me, okay?"

She continued to disinfect, then bandage Faith's hands, wrapping them securely. She was thinking not of Faith as she did so, so much as everything.

This baby…Buffy wasn't sure how to react to it either. It was something she hadn't thought possible, and so had never bothered to think about. As a Slayer, and one with a female lover at that, she had figured having children was just not in her future, and she'd been okay with that.

But now that she had been proven wrong… it was something stunning, amazing…and totally scary. She couldn't blame Faith for freaking out a little. Buffy was pretty sure once this all sank in that she would too.

When Faith's hands had been taken care of, Buffy took them in hers and simply held them gently. She didn't speak, didn't try to make Faith speak either…she just waited. She knew by now that this would usually draw Faith out, for when given enough time and space, the woman would usually get to a point where she could no longer stand the silence.

She was right, and after a few minutes Faith spoke, her voice low.

"I wasn't even sure I could have kids…all those years, I never got pregnant, not once," Faith muttered, looking down at their hands. "Thought maybe my insides were screwed up…internal bleeding and all…"

She didn't' specify that the internal bleeding had come from Buffy sticking a jagged six inch knife into her stomach five years ago. It wasn't needed to be said; they both knew very well what she meant, and Buffy squeezed her bandaged hands gently, letting her know she was okay.

"Maybe not even that, I don't know…I just figured, you know, I get to be 21 and I never get pregnant as many times as I've had sex, I'm probably home free, you know? Guess magic doesn't count with that," she finished, and she shrugged, a short, bitter laugh escaping. "Fuck…I never thought it would happen."

Transferring one of Faith's hands to rest on her thigh, Buffy brushed her hair back from her face again tenderly, looking into Faith's eyes as she spoke to her.

"You didn't want kids, Faith? Ever?"

"No, of course not," Faith exclaimed, looking at her as if she were very slow to even ask such a thing. "Why would someone like ME ever want kids?"

"Why not?" Buffy countered, keeping her hand lightly against the side of Faith's head. "You like kids, Faith, you're good with the mini-Slayers and their kid siblings. You were good with Dawn when she was younger. Why wouldn't you even consider having any of your own?"

She ran her fingers through Faith's hair lightly, seemingly to detangle it, but really as an excuse to keep touching it. She was hoping that the constant gentle touching would open Faith further, relax her enough so that she felt she could go on.

It seemed to be working. Faith sighed, and her eyes were still troubled, but Buffy noticed her shoulders loosen, the way she moved her head slightly against Buffy's hand.

"Why do you think, B? What the hell would I do with a kid- a baby? Teenagers are okay if they're not mine, I just show them who's boss and they fall in line if I shove them around enough. But a baby? MY baby? It would be all this responsibility, and I'm already responsibled out over the past two years. I mean, it would be MINE, so I would have to be there, all the time. You can't go out doing whatever stupid shit you want when you've got a kid, at least not if you're not gonna screw it up even more than you already did. And B…people like me don't need to be having kids," she said quietly, her gaze drifting out towards the opposite wall. "I know firsthand that fucked up parents make fucked up kids, and I don't wanna do that to some poor kid that never asked to be mine. I can't."

Buffy's chest tightened, and she took Faith's face in her hand, forcing her to turn her head to look at her. She held her face steady as she spoke intently, her eyes never leaving Faith's.

"Faith…you will not be like your mother was with you," she said firmly. "I know you… and that's not you. It will never be you. You are good, Faith, and you care too much and too deeply for that to ever happen. You won't be her or like anyone else- like anyone but yourself. And you would be fine."

"Oh yeah?" Faith asked roughly, and Buffy saw that she was blinking back tears as she replied, her jaw tensing against Buffy's hand. "What am I supposed to tell the kid, that I'm a killer, an escaped convict? Am I supposed to tell her everything I did, ever way I fucked up my own life, and then tell her I won't fuck up hers?"

The threatening tears were pressing harder in her eyes now, and she tried to look past Buffy rather than at her, to pull her face away. Her throat closing over in empathy, Buffy kissed her softly on the cheek, then the lips before pulling back to look at her.

"The baby wouldn't see any of that, Faith…and neither does anyone else. All the baby will see is her mommy…a hero. A champion."

At that, Faith bit her lip, a tear escaping, and she wiped it quickly, letting out a shuddering breath. "You want it…don't you B? You want me to keep it."

"Yeah…yeah, I do," Buffy said slowly, and for the first time it dawned on her how much this was true. "I mean, believe me, I wasn't expecting this either… and I am SO not ready to be a mom. I probably never will be…but that's the thing, Faith. if it were left up to us it would never happen..so maybe that's why it did. Because it was supposed to. I mean, it's really scary… really, really scary," she added, her lip quirking slightly with growing discomfort. "But maybe it's meant to be. I mean, think about it… the kid of two Slayers. Imagine what she could become."

Faith sniffed, her face growing solemn as she thought, and Buffy slipped her arm around her just before she spoke.

"Alright though…why couldn't YOU be the pregnant one? I KNEW Red still had a grudge…"

Buffy laughed. "We'll get her back baby… every stinky diaper goes straight to Aunt Willow."

"She's on puke patrol too," Faith agreed, a slight smile emerging. "She better believe it."

The two of them fell into a silence, their thoughts drifting, awed, to what was to come. A baby… she and Faith were having a baby, Buffy repeated to herself, her mind dazed at the very thought. She was going to be a mommy…they both were.


	3. Reactions

Story Three: Reactions

There was a moment or two of stuned silence after Buffy's hurried announcement; several jaws dropped, and there was an outbreak of rapid blinking and widening eyes, as well as a few shocked gasps. Beside Buffy Faith cringed, her face reddening, and the hand not tightly clinched in Buffy's was forming a fist at her side. Her face was slightly lowered, but she looked quite clearly pissed off, just as Buffy had known she would. If it was up to Faith, she suspected, she would have just let everyone think she was fat for as long as possible.

Buffy squeezed her hand, partly in support, partly in warning for Faith not to explode on the first person to react in some way more than gawking at her- well, other than Willow, who was half flinching, half smiling, and definitely avoiding Faith's eyes. Buffy knew full well that shock wouldn't keep them all quiet for very much longer.

Four seconds later, the chain reaction began.

"Uh…WHAT?!" Xander blurted, his eye still wide with disbelief, and he gestured as if he couldn't connect his brain with anything that had been said. "WHAT?!"

"Oh good Lord," Giles muttered, and his glasses were immediately in his hand as he began to polish them intently. No doubt the idea of a pregnant Faith, and the thought of his Slayers as mothers, was more than his mind could comprehend at this point- even if the baby hadn't actually come about from sex. Buffy had to smirk at that- some things never changed.

The other four's reactions were not quite so astounded and awkward. Willow smiled at Xander, nodding as she confirmed his question.

"You heard her, Xan…thanks to my overeager little blessing-"

"Or curse," Faith muttered darkly, shaking her head and glowering to herself, her body tense. Buffy knew she wanted to bolt away from all the attention they were giving her. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea after all, to tell them all at once like this…

"You're pregnant?! Oh my god!" Dawn squealed, her eyes lighting up in excitement, and she beamed, launching herself at first Buffy, then Faith to hug. "That's so cool!"

"Hey, get off me already," Faith protested, trying to shove Dawn away, but Dawn tightened her arms around her as she bubbled over in enthusiasm.

"This is so cool..I'm going to be an aunt! I'm going to be Aunt Dawn…doesn't that sound cool? Do you know if it's a boy or girl?"

"Dawn, get OFF me," Faith said more sharply, but Dawn was oblivious.

"Oh, it'll be so cute! It should have Faith's eyes… and Buffy's hair…but not your nose, Buffy-"

"What's wrong with my nose?" Buffy said indignantly as Faith forgot to glare long enough to start laughing. As Buffy turned to scowl at her, and Dawn too, who was still hanging around Faith's neck, Kennedy smirked, looking between Faith and Willow deliberately.

"So…let me get this straight. My girlfriend knocked you up?" she asked Faith with a raised eyebrow, draping an arm over Willow's shoulders.

Willow flushed even more hotly than before, and both Buffy and Faith stiffened.

"Oh, screw you," Faith snapped, and Kennedy laughed.

"Nah, that's what Buffy did….apparently…"

"I INSIST you stop there," Giles said hurriedly, his voice rising, but Buffy was frowning now, worry coming into her eyes.

"Will…the baby IS mine…right?"

"Oh yes, it is- your genes, it's all you, Buffy," Willow reassured her. "Well, all you and Faith, of course. I just…caused it to come into being."

"So…you're sort of its mother too, then, in a way," Kennedy laughed. "Damn, this is gonna be one confused kid…it's gonna have THREE lesbian mothers."

"Again I say…WHAT?!" Xander exclaimed.

Just then Andrew entered the room, looking around at everyone curiously and also with some hurt.

"I see that you have started a meeting without me, as usual… is there anything I should know?" he asked in a transparent attempt at seeming casual.

Buffy opened her mouth, but Kennedy, who seemed to be finding entirely too much amusement in the situation, beat her in explaining.

"Faith's knocked up… it's Buffy's kid, but Willow's the one who did the spell to cause it."

Buffy could almost literally see the sparks flying from Faith's eyes as she swiveled her head sharply in Kennedy's direction. Had Dawn not still been practically in her lap and Buffy's hand still gripping hers tightly, she probably would have punched her. As it was, Andrew's eyes went huge with awe, and he bowed to Faith reverently, his voice hushed.

"You are with child… oh, blessed being that is woman-"

"I am NOT a freakin' blessed anything- get the hell off me!" Faith shouted as Andrew tried to take hold of her free hand, and she stood up, violently thrusting Dawn and Andrew away from her in the process.

Buffy, realizing that explosion and/or fleeing was dangerously close to surface, jumped up, taking Faith's arm and stroking it soothingly but firmly as she looked around at the others meaningfully.

"Guys, back off… give her room to breathe."

"Yeah, she needs air… she's pregnant, I think I heard that, that pregnant women need air," Xander said, and Willow smiled.

"Not like the rest of us, huh?"

"Right, she's getting mad… oh, I bet she's going to be even more pissy than usual now, aren't you, Faith?" Dawn laughed. "All the hormones. Pregnant women get really crazy with them, don't they? Oh, and the puking- are you puking yet, Faith? And having to pee all the time, and crying all the time-"

"I am NOT going to be crying!" Faith yelled, and Buffy decided it would be wise not to mention that Faith had already cried twice today, once because she had run out of her favorite kind of cereal.

"Dawn…come on," Buffy said sternly, even as she tried not to smile.

"Yes, PLEASE let's focus on…something else," Giles muttered, his glasses still firmly in his hand, before he put them on and attempted a brave smile. "Well…congratulations, Buffy, Faith…this is certainly a surprise."

"You're going to be a grandpa, Giles!" Dawn said cheerfully, grinning at him now, and Giles looked horrified at the thought, nodding quickly.

"Uh…yes…quite…"

"So you're really… having a baby," Xander repeated, shaking his head, as if this could not quite register, and Faith snapped at him.

"What, you need to clean out your ears or something?"

"This is unprecedented," Giles continued, a familiar gleam of intrigue coming into his eyes slowly now. "Not only the child of two females, but also of two Slayers…why, there's no telling what she might become…"

"It's just a kid, okay, don't write out its life story before it gets here," Faith said quickly, raising her chin in defiance. "Damn, you'd think no one had ever got pregnant before, the way you don't shut up over it."

"Well, YOU haven't…I think. Right?" Xander asked, and Kennedy joined in.

"And a woman's never gotten pregnant by another woman before because of the spell of a third woman."

"And they're both Slayers-" Dawn interjected, and Faith growled, cutting her off.

"Fine, we're freaks, now shut the hell up and get outta my way."

She pulled away from Buffy, starting to storm out the room, but Xander's voice caused her to pause.

"All those women making a baby without a man…what are you trying to make us totally useless?"

"Already there, Xan," Faith shot back, slamming the door behind her, and Giles sighed as Buffy passed him, starting after her.

"This will be a long nine months," he muttered, and Buffy had to agree.

But it was worth it. Even now, she knew it was worth it.


	4. Told you so

Story 4: Told you so

"I want it," Faith repeated, as stubborn and insistent as a child, sticking out her chin in an unconscious show of defiance as she glared at Buffy, crossing her arms over her still-mostly-flat stomach. "You can't stop me from having whatever I want, Buffy, you're not the fuckin' boss of me, alright?"

"No, but I apparently have a better memory than you, even though it's YOUR body that suffers the consequences of having your way with this kind of thing," Buffy leveled back at her, hands on her hips as she eyed her evenly.

"You're not my mother! Stop treating me like I'm some stupid little kid!" Faith growled, eyes flashing, and Buffy, despite knowing she shouldn't, couldn't stop herself from snapping back.

"Well stop acting like one, Faith, and maybe I won't have to!"

"Stop being a bitch and I wouldn't have to!" Faith shot back, her voice rising, muscles tensing, and Buffy sighed, turning away slightly to compose herself before replying.

Faith was almost eight weeks along now, and she seemed to grow moodier and moodier as time passed. Almost everything Buffy did or said seemed enough to provoke her into battle, or else tears. Buffy didn't know which was worse- the moodiness, the emotional meltdowns, or the current focus of their fighting, but the thought of seven more months of it was terrifying.

She took a deep breath, trying to bring herself to a calm, logical tone of voice as she turned to Faith again, renewing her addressal to her.

"Faith…I'm not trying to act like I'm your mother, and I'm not saying you're stupid or need my advice. I don't want to fight with you, and I understand that you get cravings. I'm the one who drove all around at midnight to get you a pineapple and anchovy pizza, remember?" she told her, struggling to keep her voice soft and patient. "But you know what happens when you eat Mexican now- or pineapple and anchovy pizza, too, for that matter. And you know who has to be there too when it happens," she said pointedly, indicating herself as she looked Faith in the eye. "Come on, why don't you have a nice salad or-"

"I don't want a fuckin' salad, B- what, are you trying to starve me?" Faith snapped, and she snatched Buffy's purse, with her wallet inside, off the coffee table, heading for the door with barely a glance behind her. She was almost visibly bristling with anger. "Look, I don't care okay, I want some chalupas and enchiladas and I want them now. I'm going to La Hacienda, whether you're coming or not, so are you coming?"

Buffy sighed, her shoulders slumping, in decided unenthusiasm as she followed the brunette to the door. She gave it ninety minutes, tops…dammit. Why was Faith so stubborn?

Oh yeah…because she was Faith. Buffy could only hope the kid was more like her…whatever her mother had said, she was sure that she had been a very nice, quiet baby.

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Sixty-two minutes later Buffy knelt beside Faith on their bathroom floor, holding her hair back with one hand and rubbing her back soothingly with the other as Faith shuddered, trying to catch her breath. Exactly, of course, as Buffy had predicted. However, as Buffy whispered comfort, continuing to caress Faith's back, she thought it wiser not to say "I told you so," as badly as she wanted to. At least not until Faith's stomach had settled and she had a less icky weapon to use against her if she so chose.


	5. Good practice

Story 5: Good practice

As Buffy opened the door to their bathroom, she saw that Faith was standing in front of the mirror, a hairbrush clutched in one hand. She was staring at her reflection, and from the looks of it was not too pleased. Her eyebrows were slanted downward, her lips thinned, and as Buffy looked at her more closely, she realized that her dark eyes were blinking rapidly, tearful. Inwardly Buffy sighed, even though she felt bad for her, concerned… this was hardly unusual, and it could be wearying at times.

She came up behind Faith and slipped her arms around her waist, kissing her shoulder before resting her chin there, lightly feeling the slight bump beginning to be apparent under Faith's shirt with one hand.

"What's up, baby?" she asked softly, kissing Faith's neck, and Faith swallowed, sniffing slightly.

"My hair…it looks so stupid," she replied, her voice a little unsteady, and Buffy quickly pressed her face against Faith's shoulder, struggling not to laugh.

It was so hard not to laugh when Little Miss Badass Tough Chick Faith did something so utterly GIRLY lately…she knew full well by now not to though. And god forbid you even hint that Faith might be overreacting or hormonal. That, Faith didn't take to well at all, and there was a hole in the living room wall and several broken dishes and doors to prove it.

Still…this was so funny to Buffy, even if Faith was miserable over each incident at the time. She did feel sorry for her… but come on, it was pretty silly stuff.

She had made the mistake a few days ago of bursting out laughing when Faith had tugged at the skin of her stomach and hips before worriedly asking Buffy if she thought she was fat. It was just such a change from Faith's usual total confidence, even cockiness, over how she looked that Buffy couldn't help but laugh. But she had been sorry when Faith burst into tears and locked herself in the bathroom sobbing. Selfish as it was, Buffy had to admit that she was glad she wasn't the one who was pregnant. Of course, she knew SHE wouldn't be as weird as Faith was being…no way.

In the bathroom with her now, Buffy hugged Faith tighter, nuzzling her nose into her neck before kissing it.

"You're beautiful, baby. Your hair along with the rest of you."

She was as sincere as she could be, but there must have been an undercurrent of amusement to her voice, because Faith stiffened, the tears gone in an instant as she spoke to Buffy suspiciously.

"You makin' fun of me, B?"

"What? No, Faith, I'm serious," Buffy started, but she knew it was too late. Faith was already swinging into her next mood.

"What, you think it's funny that I look and feel like shit now?"

"No, Faith, of course not, and you don't. Look-" Buffy tried again, but Faith interrupted, her voice hard, muscles tensing further against Buffy.

"Don't be so damn patronizing, Buffy. Dammit…do you really think I'm stupid or ugly or something? I'm not fuckin' ugly, I'm just PREGNANT, that doesn't make me stupid or ugly!" she said loudly, seemingly unaware that she had directly contradicted herself.

"Okay, okay," Buffy said, letting go of her and backing away, holding her hands up in surrender. "I'll leave you alone then."

"Yeah, you do that, Buffy," Faith snapped, and Buffy gritted her teeth, knowing that within five minutes Faith might switch over again and start crying, convinced that Buffy was leaving because she didn't want her. Well, she was getting good practice for having a teenager one day anyway, that was for sure…


	6. A rose by any other name

Story 6: A rose by any other name

"Annabelle," Buffy suggested, and Faith shook her head immediately.

"Way too Southern belle cutesy. Jamie."

"As in, Lee Curtis? No thanks, not the way I want MY daughter to look. The woman looked forty when she was eighteen. Isabelle," Buffy asserted, and Faith snorted, raising her eyebrow half in disgust, half in amusement.

"What's with all the Belle names, B? You got a thing for that Beauty and the Beast chick? Or is it that whiny Twilight girl? It is, isn't it," Faith said suspiciously, her smirk widening, and she shook her head again. "What's next, Maybelle- you want to name your daughter after a cow?"

The two of them were lying close to each other in their bed, cuddling, though Faith still adamantly refused to use that word under any circumstances to describe the action. Faith's arm was wound around Buffy's shoulders, and the smaller blonde pressed her bare body tightly against Faith's, enjoying the warmth of her flesh, the closeness they were sharing in the aftermath of their earlier intimacy. Two definite pluses of Faith's being pregnant; now that her all-day-long sickness had mostly abated, Faith wanted sex even more frequently than usual and was very creative and enthusiastic about it- so much that Buffy was sometimes exhausted, or utterly blown away.

Another bonus was that Faith definitely wanted nonsexual physical contact more often. She more frequently gave or sought out for herself hand holding, back rubbing, hugs, or simply cuddling, especially after several rounds of sex. It was nice for Buffy, who had sometimes gotten the feeling before that Faith cuddled with her sometimes because she felt she had to rather than because she wanted to… it made up for Faith being so difficult in other ways now.

She could feel the beginning bulge of Faith's belly against her own, and Buffy smiled, thinking of it as her daughter being embraced between the two of them. They knew that the baby would be a daughter. Both of them, and Willow too, just felt it… and besides, what else could a child produced only from females be except female?

And that was fine with her…Buffy wouldn't know how to deal with a boy anyway. She thought Faith was more uncomfortable with the thought of a daughter, but right now that wasn't the main issue. The main issue was a name…and their vastly differing tastes in names for girls.

"Oh yeah? Well what do you suggest?" Buffy shot back at Faith, her voice a little edgy after the cow comment.

Faith shrugged, shifting her bare leg against Buffy's lazily so that for a moment Buffy sucked in her breath, a sudden tingle shooting through her.

"Trinity's a pretty cool name."

"You only say that because you like the woman from The Matrix," Buffy said wryly, giving Faith a smirk of her own. "And while we're at it, Megan, as in Fox, and Angelina, as in Jolie, are out of the running too. Seriously though, think about it- your name is Faith, and you name your daughter Trinity? They'll think were a bunch of religious fanatics."

"Oh…right, didn't think of that," Faith chuckled, and Buffy smiled when she began to play idly with strands of her blonde hair. "How about Toni?"

"Makes me think of the pizza brand. What about Audrianna?" Buffy suggested, leaning her head into Faith's hand. "That's a pretty name…"

"Are you kidding? She'd hate you when she had to learn to spell that in kindergarten," Faith said incredulously, shaking her head. "What's with all the long girly names anyway? She needs something cooler than that…how about Allyn, with a y?"

"Faith, our child is going to be teased as it is about having two mommies," Buffy said slowly, pulling back a little to look at her. "Don't you think it will only make it worse if we give her a guy's name? Jamie, Toni, Allyn- that's just mean."

"Oh…damn, didn't think of that either," Faith muttered, frowning. "Names like that are cool though."

"How about Sophia?" Buffy asked, rubbing her hand down Faith's arm. Faith ignored that suggestion entirely, countering it with one of her own.

"Jess."

"Savannah," Buffy shot back, her hand stilling on Faith's back; she noticed that Faith's hand had stopped stroking her hair as well, her eyes growing darker, more intense and impatient.

"Torrey," Faith leveled, and now both were sitting up, pulling apart and facing each other, as if in a debate or contest…which in a way Buffy supposed it was.

"Daniella."

"Relic."

"Cassandra."

"Zephyr."

"ZEPHYR?!" Buffy finally exclaimed, spreading out her hands in incredulous indignation. "Why the hell would you want to name your baby ZEPHYR?! Why are all your names either boy names or totally weird and insane?!"

"Why are all YOUR names at least three syllables and ending in an "a"?" Faith threw back at her, her voice rising too, shoulders tensing. "She's not a ballerina or china doll!"

"No, she's a GIRL! Not a dominatrix or transvestite porn star!" Buffy said defensively, her cheeks reddening. All cuddling and nudity were forgotten as they glared at each other.

"She's a vampire slayer! She needs a cool name!" Faith maintained, her eyebrows slanting closer as she scowled. "Savannah the Vampire Slayer?! Audrianna the Vampire Slayer?! Are you kidding- that's as bad as Buffy!"

"Are you cutting on my name again?" Buffy snapped, her eyes narrowing, and Faith nodded vehemently.

"Damn right I am! Why do you think I call you B most of the time, Buffy is totally stupid for a vampire slayer!"

"Oh, and FAITH the vampire slayer is so much better?!" Buffy sputtered, her ears reddening with irritation, and Faith's reply was exactly as she would have predicted.

"Yeah, better than BUFFY!"

The women pulled away from each other, both glaring, heartbeats speeding up, making a show of not looking or touching each other. Buffy lay down again, turning her back on Faith, and Faith imitated her a few seconds later. A fight broke out over the covers, with Faith winning and Buffy sulking more than ever, before several moments of angry silence cropped up. Buffy was irritated even by the sound of Faith's breathing…and then the brunette shifted closer to her, throwing the covers back on Buffy as well, and muttered something begrudgingly that Buffy couldn't quite hear.

"What?" Buffy asked, turning her head slightly, and Faith shook her head quickly.

"Nothing, B."

"No…what did you say?" Buffy asked suspiciously, rolling over fully now to face Faith. She was sure that, despite Faith's seeming attempt at appeasement in moving closer and returning her share of the covers to her, that Faith had just said something nasty, probably about her, her name, or her naming ability.

"It's stupid. Don't worry about it," Faith repeated in the same mutter, and now Buffy HAD to know.

"Faith, it can't be stupider than wanting to name your daughter Zephyr. Now what is it?"

"That's a cool name!" Faith said defensively, then more reluctantly, not meeting Buffy's eyes, "I was just thinking…maybe Callie. As a name. But that's dumb, so don't worry about it."

Buffy's eyes widened slightly in surprise, and her brow furrowed as she thought about it. She definitely hadn't expected that. Judging from Faith's other choices, she wouldn't have been surprised to hear She-Ra or Xena.

"Callie…I never knew anyone called that before," she mused. "It's cute…but pretty."

"It's stupid," Faith said quickly, and even in the dim light Buffy could see she was blushing. "Forget it."

"No, I like it, Faith… where did you get the idea?" Buffy asked, and Faith flushed even more. When she didn't reply, Buffy gave her a little poke on the shoulder, meeting her skittish eyes. What was she being so weird for?

"Faith, come on…I won't laugh or anything. Who was Callie?"

It took Faith almost a full minute before she replied, and when she did she was careful to keep her eyes to the side. Her voice strained for casual, but Buffy heard the embarrassment all the same.

"My neighbor had a calico cat when I was a kid…I used to pet it sometimes, I always wanted a pet. Its name was Callie, like calico, I guess… just remembered the cat."

Buffy bit the inside of her cheeks, trying to prevent herself from smiling too much or showing too much surprise. She loved it when Faith had her little softer moments like that…but it was so startling and sweet sometimes that it was hard not to laugh, even if she didn't want to.

She reached out to cup Faith's face, smiling at her, and kissed her gently, reassuringly.

"I like it…and that's all that matters, since what are the chances of us agreeing again."

"About the same as Xander ever being able to kick my ass."

Buffy laughed, kissing Faith again before pulling the other woman closer, her hand moving to caress her stomach.

"Hey there, Callie," she said softly, leaning her face close, almost resting it against Faith's stomach as Faith moved her hand to rest on top of Buffy's head. "You like that name, Callie?"

"Joyce," Faith said softly, and when Buffy stilled, her eyes going up to Faith's, Faith repeated herself, almost in a murmur, her eyes hesitant. "Callie Joyce…I think that's a good name."

As Buffy looked back at her, the meaning of Faith's words hitting her, she felt her heart twist strongly, her throat choking, eyes tearing. She squeezed Faith's hand, kissing her again before nodding, blinking back her tears.

"Yeah…yeah, that's a beautiful name, Faith."

Moving her face down to Faith's stomach, she kissed it gently, stroking it as she addressed the child inside. She was still holding Faith's hand.

"Hey there, Callie Joyce…your mommy and mama finally picked your name. You like it?"

"Doesn't matter, she's stuck with it anyway," Faith pointed out, and Buffy laughed, kissing her stomach again and resting her cheek against it. She felt Faith's hand smooth over her hair as she began to drift to sleep.


	7. First hello

Story 7: First hello

"You know, I really, really want a cigarette right now, kid… and I wouldn't mind being able to have a drink either. You know how long it's been since your mommy and I had a beer or five without worrying about anything more than getting hungover? A long time, that's how long. And you know that once upon a time I could go five minutes, five whole minutes, without a little punk baby karate chopping me in the bladder? Amazing, I know… hard to believe there was a life before your little pissed off existence, huh, Callie Joyce?"

From where she was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, Buffy paused, unable to keep from grinning. Faith was standing partly turned away from her, hands spread over the growing bulge of her stomach, and looking down at it, addressing it seriously. Buffy knew that Faith had not yet noticed her presence, and that made this all the more amusing. The younger woman had seemingly barely tolerated Buffy touching or kissing her stomach at times before this, especially in public- and God forbid anyone else try. She had vowed that she would never speak to her stomach herself like a doofus- it wasn't like the kid could hear her, she had maintained. The baby probably didn't even have ears yet. Besides, she would really be talking to herself, and even if the baby could hear, it wasn't like she understood.

All those proclamations, and yet here Faith stood, touching her belly almost like an embrace of sorts, speaking down to it like it was a seven year old child that stood before her.

"Yep, I can see you're gonna be a little rebel, aren't you, Cal? No happy little babbling baby here, you're probably gonna come out with a Mohawk and nose ring, as pissed off at me as you are already. Well at least you stopped sucker punching me in the stomach with your little baby fist, because all that puking wasn't fun, Cal. You need to be nicer to me, 'cause it's your other mommy that's the pushover."

Buffy barely kept from snickering there, covering her hand with her mouth quickly. She knew very well that Faith was going to be far from the tough hardass mama she imagined herself to be. Between the two of them and the Scoobies and Giles, Callie Summers-Lehane was going to be either extremely loved or extremely spoiled, and most likely both.

"Yep, so, you, little girl, the minute you come out of me, you are not gonna have so much power anymore," Faith continued to lecture her stomach sternly, even as she stroked her hands over it in a clearly affectionate manner. "Let's just see you try to kick your mama in the bladder when you're all wrapped up in a blanket or strapped in your car seat, huh? What do you think about that, Mia Hamm Jr?"

She smiled then, her voice softening, and her hands stilled on her stomach as she spoke to it again.

"Oh well…Mama's gonna love you anyway, you little brat baby. Hear that? There's all that gunky shit- I mean stuff- inside here, but you hear that, don't you Callie. Mama's gonna love your mean little pissed off baby self anyway."

Full out grinning now, unable to take any more of the extreme cuteness of what she was observing in silence, Buffy stepped up behind Faith, wrapping her arms around her and covering Faith's hands with her own on her stomach.

"You talking to me, baby?" she said in mock innocence, snickering, and enjoying entirely when Faith jumped, flushing hotly.

"What? No…just talking to…myself."

"You called yourself a pissed off little baby?" Buffy asked in the same overly innocent tone, smirking, and Faith glowered, fumbling.

"What? You…"

"Faith, it's okay," Buffy said affectionately, giving her lover another tight squeeze and a kiss on the side of the neck before rubbing her stomach gently, pushing up her shirt to do so on her bare skin. "You're her mother…it's okay to talk to her. And we can keep it our little secret," she added with a smirk.

"Was too talking to myself," Faith muttered as Buffy slipped around to the front of her, kneeling so she was eye level to Faith's stomach as she began to stroke it as Faith had. She was still holding Faith's hands in hers so that both of them were touching her stomach together.

"Hey, baby," she cooed, raising her voice higher than normal as she spoke to her daughter. "This is your mommy…and that was your mama talking to you just a minute ago. Can you hear us, Callie?"

"Oh, jeez," Faith muttered, rolling her eyes, but she didn't pull her hands away from Buffy, and she was looking down at her stomach with undisguised interest. Grinning, Buffy continued.

"Don't listen to your mama, Callie, she loves you too… she's just embarrassed. But Mommy's not embarrassed! Mommy doesn't think she has to play she's a big bad tough girl, noooo, not with her little baby girl…"

"Damn, B, listen to yourself, " Faith interrupted, but she was smiling, even as Buffy shot her a sharp look.

"No swearing in front of the baby!"

As Faith rolled her eyes, Buffy turned her voice high and sweet again, continuing to hold Faith's hands to stroke her stomach.

"Do you feel that, Callie…that's your mommy and mama touching you the best we can right now. Feel that…feel us touching you, baby?"

She had barely finished her sentence before a sharp knock against their hands replied. As both women gasped, looking at each other with wide eyes, Buffy spoke to the baby again, her fingers tightening on Faith's.

"Callie…Callie, was that you?"

Another kick against her hand answered, and Buffy squealed, beaming. Faith looked dazed, her eyes still wide, but she was grinning, her dimples in view as she tightly squeezed Buffy's hand.

"Faith, she's talking to us…that's her first hello!"

Getting Faith to sit down at the kitchen table, Buffy continued to talk to Faith's stomach, stroking it, never letting go of the other woman's hand. Though Faith didn't speak to her stomach again, not in Buffy's presence, her eyes were shining, and Buffy knew that she would try again the moment that she was alone.


	8. Gifts

Story 8: Gifts

Buffy's eyes scanned slowly over the array of items scattered across the kitchen table and floor, looking over each item they had received during Faith's baby shower, and shook her head with both amusement and complete incredulity in her expression. Now that all the guests were gone, she was free to sit back and be honest in what she thought about all their presents… and her honest assessment was that her friends and family were much more insane than she had imagined. A very, very scary thought, considering her previous estimate…

"This is unbelievable," she spoke aloud, still shaking her head, and Faith, who was eagerly sitting before their TV, setting up one of Callie's gifts, grinned.

"Yeah, I know, we got a pretty good haul here, didn't we, B?" she said as she plugged the gift into a wall socket, her eyes lighting up further with gleeful appreciation as she turned the item on. "Damn, this is wicked…"

"Quite the haul?" Buffy repeated with even more incredulity than she had shown previously, turning around on Faith and spreading out her arms to indicate the gifts emphatically. "Quite the haul?! Faith, do you SEE what they got for Callie?! Does any of them have a CLUE what a baby needs?!"

"Nah, of course not, none of them have kids- or siblings," came Faith's unbothered reply as her fingers moved rapidly, working the controller of Xander's gift to Faith. "It's all right though. I think they got some pretty neat stuff, B. Especially Xan my man- he's gonna be a cool uncle alright," she grinned, her fingers jabbing at the buttons as she kept her eyes glued to the TV.

"Faith, he got Callie a Playstation 3!" Buffy exclaimed, throwing her arms out again. It was a fact that she was sure Faith was aware of, since she was currently playing it with a look of goofy childlike joy sparkling in her eyes. "She's not even born yet! She won't be able to even grab a finger for months, let alone pick up a controller to play some zombie shoot out game, which is NOT appropriate for children! By the time she can actually play, there will have been fifteen newer systems out!"

"So she won't mind me borrowing it then," Faith replied cheerfully as blood splattered across the virtual screen, followed by her triumphant whoop. "Sounds like a good deal to me. I oughtta get a present too, I'm the one having this kid… anyway, he got her something else too, didn't he?"

"Yeah, a two foot tall Homer Simpson doll," Buffy said in disgust, shaking her head again. "How is THAT going to be of any use to us?"

"Hey, if she doesn't want that, I'll take it too," Faith announced as she skewered several more virtual zombies, complete with gory sound effects. "Homer's hilarious."

"I think Xander went shopping for Xander," Buffy muttered, looking over to where Faith was busy trying out the "baby's" PS3 and then at the Homer doll in continued shock. "Unless…hey! You didn't TELL Xander to get those things, did you?"

"Nah, the guy's just got good taste," Faith said easily, but Buffy thought there might have been a temporary guilty gleam in her eyes…she couldn't be sure. "Anyway, there's lots of other stuff for Callie, B, why are you all wigged out?"

"Lots of other stuff? Faith, look at WHAT stuff it is!" Buffy cried, and she started to grab things and hold them up to her as if in proof as she ran through the list. "KENNEDY got her pacifiers with fake FANGS- like she's a vampire!"

"Yeah, that's kinda funny," Faith chuckled, and Buffy glared at her.

"No it is NOT funny! Jokes about our baby being a vampire are NOT funny! Our baby is going to be a SLAYER, not a vampire! AND, Kennedy got her LEGOS! It's going to be at least a few years before Callie can play with Legos!"

"Again, I'll play with them for her," Faith laughed as several more zombies exploded on the screen. "Maybe they're just trying to make up for the six years of birthday presents they owe me."

"Willow got her formula- but you're going to breastfeed! AND she got her a necklace that's spelled to ward off evil….which is nice and all, but babies aren't supposed to wear necklaces, she might strangle herself," Buffy griped, her voice rising. "And Andrew?! Andrew got her a freakin' toy LIGHTSABER- what the hell will she do with that?! And baby Star Wars shirts- shirts with robots and Darth Vader and that little green guy! My baby is NOT, EVER, wearing a Darth Vader shirt, why the hell would he do that?!"

Faith snickered, eyes leaving the TV briefly to grin at Buffy. As peeved as she was, Buffy had to admit that Faith was obviously enjoying "Callie's" gift, and much more pleasant in mood because of it. Maybe she should have got her a PS3 when she was first pregnant…

"Well Giles and Dawn got normal baby stuff anyway," Faith offered. "Diapers and clothes and formula and all."

"Yeah- but you're breastfeeding, Faith, why doesn't anyone seem to know this? And clothes for a one-year-old and diapers for a toddler!" Buffy griped, rolling her eyes. "Didn't they bother to read the sizes? Can't they just tell by looking that the stuff was too big for a seven pound newborn?"

"So next time just tell them to give us money," Faith shrugged. "That way you can go get what you want…and you know you love any excuse to go shopping anyway."

"Yeah, I guess I don't have a choice, the way they pick things," Buffy muttered, scowling. "You know how much store credit we could have had towards diapers if you hadn't opened that PS3, Faith?"

Suddenly her eyes widened as part of Faith's statement struck her, and she went to sit beside her, her voice disbelieving.

"Wait a minute…did you say next time?"

"Yep, next time, when it's your turn to be pregnant," Faith smirked, as she beat the game's level and saved it. "Think it's only fair."

As Buffy stared at the mischievous gleam in her eyes, she couldn't tell if Faith was kidding or not…nor was she sure whether or not she wanted her to be.


	9. Mistaken Attribution

Story 9: Mistaken Attribution

The lights were off, the night air cool and fairly quiet, but though it was late, neither woman lying in bed was able to sleep. Buffy pressed her body into Faith's back, curling up with her in a spoon style, her forehead resting between Faith's shoulder blades; one hand was under Faith's shirt, gently splayed across the swell of her abdomen. Faith was nine months pregnant now, a fact very obvious in her heavily protruding stomach and her awkward swaying walk. It had been some time since she had been able to swagger in her usual confident way. As far along as she was now, Faith was almost always uncomfortable, regardless of what she was doing and the positioning of her body.

Especially when it came to sleep. Faith, who had once slept so heavily, even through nightmares, that it was almost impossible for Buffy to awaken her, now slept lightly and fitfully, waking up often with nightmares, discomfort, or a need to use the restroom. She could only sleep on her side, with her stomach in the way as it was, and was, depending on her mood, either upset or pissed off sometimes that her stomach made it so she could no longer put her arms around Buffy in bed.

That of course also depended on whether she wanted to be touched at all. Some days Faith bristled if anyone so much as touched her arm, needing her own very defined space, but other times she was physically needy, wanting Buffy to hold her and kiss her, to assure and prove to her that she still loved and wanted her- though of course she never said as much. Buffy had adapted to being able to read her moods better throughout the pregnancy- it was necessary for them to keep from killing each other.

Right now Faith was restless and uncomfortable, as usual. Though Buffy knew how tired she was, she hadn't been able to sleep at all. The brunette kept shifting her positioning, unable to get comfortable, and was keeping Buffy awake too because of it. A resentful, selfish part of her wanted to take her arms from around Faith and get up, to go sleep on the couch, but she wouldn't do that. Faith had to go to sleep eventually…right?

Buffy moved her leg partly in between Faith's so that she was resting even more closely against her back, Faith's warmth against hers. She slowly rubbed the other woman's stomach, hoping to settle the baby, and maybe Faith by extension.

Suddenly, however, her leg in between Faith's grew damp with some warm fluid…a fluid that was quickly spreading, wetting the rest of the bed and sheets around them. As Buffy's mind froze, momentarily utterly blank with her shock, she felt Faith's body go rigid, heard her horrified voice utter, "Oh shit…"

At those words, and in response to Faith's freezing, a horrible suspicion leapt into Buffy's mind. Warm wet fluid on their legs…and she knew very well how often Faith had to use the bathroom lately.

Fighting an intense and very tempting urge to scream, to jump and jerk away from her, Buffy was very aware of her crawling skin, panicky disgust rushing through her. She wanted to yell, to shout out hysterically that Faith had peed on her…but with a Herculean effort of self control, she forced herself not to. She knew how horrified and humiliated Faith must be, as well as how close her tears were to surface lately. She knew that Faith felt huge and ugly and disgusting…so acting disgusted by her now, even if it WAS totally disgusting, was not a good idea.

Buffy extracted her leg from Faith's as calmly as she was able as Faith sat up rapidly, her eyes wide, stunned, her face visibly pale even in the dark. She tried to sound soothing, not grossed out, as she squeezed Faith's hand briefly, throwing back the sheets and covers…sheets and covers that she could not help but register were steadily damper.

"Faith, it's okay, we'll just change the sheets. I know you didn't mean to, it's okay. You're just pregnant, that's all…it was an accident," Buffy said gently, knowing she sounded like she was talking to a toddler, but figuring that was what Faith needed. "The baby must be roundhouse kicking you again. She's gonna be a great Slayer when she grows up…here, get up so I can change the sheets, and you can go get cleaned up-"

"Buffy- what the hell are you talking about?!" Faith exclaimed, looking at her as if she were quite obviously not sane. "We aren't gonna waste time changing the sheets, my water just freakin' broke! You need to take me to the hospital, NOW!"

Buffy blinked, almost recoiling; as she stared at Faith, trying to process this change in ideas, Faith stared back, her own eyes widening in realization and total disbelief…along with no small amount of amusement.

"B…did you think I wet the bed or something? Are you serious?"

"Uh…what? Of course not…no?" Buffy said quickly, the words more question than answer. "Your water broke…are you sure?"

"Yeah, B, I'm very damn sure, I know what peeing feels like, and this ain't it," Faith griped, and then burst out laughing. "You're such a dumb blonde, B…thanks for making me laugh. Now go call Giles, call someone, get me to the hospital NOW!"

Buffy hurried to grab the phone on her desk, punching in a number hurriedly. As she raised the phone to her ear, it hit her…their baby was coming. By this time tomorrow, it would be here…by this time tomorrow she and Faith would be mothers.


	10. Delivery

Story 10: Delivery

"I'm never having sex again!!!" Faith screamed, and it was quite clear from the anguished sincerity in her tone that at the moment, at least, she meant exactly what she was saying.

Buffy knew better than to remind her in that moment that her pregnancy had not come about from sex- and not only because the doctor and nurse in the room would wonder at such a statement. Faith was already nearly breaking the bones of her hand with her crushing grip on it; she had had to force Faith to let go to switch sides several times now to prevent this from happening, and she was fairly sure it would anyway before the night was over. Each time she switched hands it would take several minutes to get the blood in them flowing normally again.

Buffy let Faith grip her right hand, stroking back her sweaty hair with her left hand and kissing her cheek. Faith was gasping for breath, her muscles very tense even as her body shook with effort, pain, and exhaustion. Buffy wanted to climb onto the delivery table with her, to hold her, to take some of her pain onto herself…but the best she could do was be there with her, let her hold her hand, and try to keep under control.

Control had been an issue from the start. Faith was an impulsive young woman as it was, quick to flare up and strike out when angry or in pain, and she had both in mass quantities right now. Already she had by pure instinct, not entirely under her control, broken one nurse's wrist and kicked a doctor hard enough to knock the wind out of him when he started to put her legs in stirrups. Another doctor she would have punched out, had Buffy not stopped her in time; the nurse and doctor in the room with her now were keeping their distance, touching her and coming close to her only when necessary. Buffy couldn't say she blamed them.

In fact, no one but she would get close to Faith; other than herself, and the doctors and nurses, there was no one else in the room with her. Being men, Giles and Xander had naturally opted to stay in the waiting room there. They were there mainly because several hours had passed, and Buffy had figured that the baby would have to be born within an hour or two. Dawn had wanted to be in the room, but Buffy had very sternly told her no- and not just because she was afraid Faith might break one of her bones too. Andrew had also tried to sneak in, but the crazed, homicidal look in Faith's eyes, along with her shrieks for him to leave, had sent him fleeing in a hurry. Willow had come in for a minute or two, wanting to do a spell to ease some of Faith's pain and anxiety. But when Faith started to scream how she'd like to end her life for doing this to her, in graphic, gory detail, the Wiccan had wisely decided it would be both of their benefits if she waited with Kennedy in the waiting room.

Right now, it seemed that Buffy was the only person Faith wanted, the only one whose presence she could tolerate, and even that was a stretch at some hours.

"It's okay," Buffy said tenderly as Faith groaned, the tendons of her neck straining, wincing as she felt her bones begin to grind into each other. She tried to get Faith to loosen her grip on her hand a little as she wiped the sweat and tears from her face, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "It's okay, baby…you're doing so good, Faith, it's okay…"

"No it is not, it is NOT okay! I hate sex- I hate babies- I want to- oh shit!" Faith screamed as another contraction hit, and Buffy almost screamed herself, her face paling, as Faith squeezed her hand even harder. Something had definitely popped that time…

"I hate sex, I hate babies…make it come out, make it hurry up," Faith was shuddering, her words almost sobs, and Buffy took the opportunity in this seemingly less homicidal moment to quickly shift hands again. "Make it come…"

"It's coming, baby, I promise," Buffy soothed, noticing that her hand was swelling, clearly bruised, and knowing the other would as well.

"I hate sex…never having sex again…" Faith panted, and Buffy just nodded.

"Okay…okay, I hear you honey…"

"Where the hell is WILLOW?! SHE did this to me, I want to kill her- I'm gonna kill her! Where is she?!" Faith shrieked next, apparently remembering that this particular child had not come from sex after all as her eyes darted about wildly. Buffy was very glad that Willow was in the waiting room. She knew very well that even heavily pregnant, in labor, and exhausted, Faith would no doubt have found a way to hurt her had they been in the same room, had she felt a strong enough urge.

"Okay, Faith…okay…"

"She's fully dilated now," declared the doctor, after he had very cautiously came to stand between her legs. Buffy quickly let go of Faith's hand, despite her cry of protest, and moved to hold her shoulders, knowing this might be needed to keep her still. "A few more pushes…you're nearly crowning now, Miss Lehane…"

"Did you hear, baby," Buffy said into Faith's ear, squeezing her tightly and kissing the top of her head. "Come on, Faith…a few more pushes…"

"I AM pushing- I just want to SHOVE and be done with it!" Faith yelled, and as another contraction hit, she screamed again as she bore down, her face twisting. Buffy tightened her arms around her shoulders even more, rocking her slightly as she spoke gently but determined, convicted.

"You can do it, baby…you're almost there. I'm so proud of you…you can do this…"

Another twenty minutes passed, minutes that seemed to both women as though they would never end…and then with one final effort, and a last scream from Faith, their child slipped into the world, into the doctor's outstretched hands. As the nurse cut the umbilical cord and held their daughter for them to see, pronouncing her a girl, Buffy felt tears spring forth, and from the sound of Faith's breathing, she could tell that she was crying too.

Their daughter was scrawny, puckered, and red, with black stringy hair matted about her head. Her eyes were slitted half open, and she was swollen, completely covered in the gunky mess from her birth, having not been cleaned up yet or tended to. She looked like a tiny angry alien, and she was bawling at the top of her lungs, the umbilical cord still attached to her tiny stomach.

She was in no way like the chubby, giggling, cherubic babies that Buffy had always pictured, the ones shown on diaper and baby food commercials. Neither woman had ever seen a baby directly after its birth before, and though logic would have lent them to think it would look like their child did now, neither had really expected her, somehow, to look as she did.

And yet it didn't matter…for when they looked at their daughter for the first time, Callie Joyce Summers-Lehane was the most beautiful thing to them that they had ever seen.


	11. Instinct

Story 11: Instinct

Author notes: Thanks Lupo for the idea…if anyone else has ideas for Callie stories, let me know!

Callie had been lying in her crib for perhaps five minutes before she started to cry. Glancing over at Faith, Buffy moved to lift her, shushing her softly as she cradled her to her chest.

"She's not hungry again, is she?" Faith asked somewhat worriedly, frowning as she stared at Callie, as if she had no idea what to do to soothe her. Which, given her behavior with Callie over the past few days, Buffy was fairly sure by now was true. "How can she be hungry…I just fed her fifteen minutes ago. Is she serious?"

"She's not hungry, Faith…I think she needs her diaper changed," Buffy determined, and she held the baby out toward Faith for her to take. "Here, hold her, I'll go get her diapers and stuff…"

"Uh…I'll get the diapers," Faith said quickly, starting to turn away, and Buffy made a sound of protest.

"Faith, I'll get them, hold her for a minute for me."

"Looks like you've got her alright, B-"

"Faith, just take her!" Buffy said impatiently, and Faith hesitated before reluctantly taking Callie from her, awkwardly holding her in a cradle against her chest. Callie only seemed to scream louder as Buffy began to gather up a diaper, wet wipes, and baby powder to spread on the changing table. She glanced over at Faith as she set them there, spreading out a blanket.

"She likes to be held up higher on your shoulder, Faith…her face turned into it. Here, bring her over now."

As Faith came over and set her gingerly on the table, on her stomach, Buffy gently flipped Callie over onto her back, taking the snaps apart on the baby's onesie.

"On her back, babe… here, why don't you come do it?"

"Nah, you've got it," Faith said quickly, backing up again, and Buffy rolled her eyes.

"Faith, it's just pee. And you've only changed her diaper twice in three days, come try it."

"Yeah, and the first time I put it on backwards and the second time I made a total mess, so I'll let you do it," Faith maintained, keeping her distance and crossing her arms.

Buffy huffed, starting to give Faith a look of pointed irritation, but when she looked over at her, she saw that the younger woman's eyebrows were knitted in a look of faint anxiety, and she looked noticeably bothered. Buffy sighed, beginning to change Callie herself without further pushing, but she was beginning to realize something.

Callie was three days old now, had been home from the hospital for two days…but Faith had not really handled her very much in this time. She fed Callie, of course, and she had held her, attempted to change her…but not nearly as much as Buffy had, or even most of the others. Dawn and Willow and the others had been in and out constantly since Callie was born, eager to hold, talk to, take pictures of, and even change her- one activity that Buffy was more than generous with passing on. But Faith…the more Buffy thought about it, the more it dawned on her that she had been hanging back, passing Callie off to others to care for her at most opportunities. It was almost as if she were afraid to touch her…or maybe that she would make mistakes in caring for her.

"Faith... "Buffy said quietly as she took out the wet wipes and began to clean Callie, trying to hold her still at the same time. The infant was still wailing, and now squirming feebly as well as Buffy tried to change her as quickly as possible. Callie was already expressing strong-willed tendencies in many areas, and having her diaper changed was something she had made her displeasure clear on from the start.

"Faith, why are you avoiding doing things to take care of Callie?"

"What? I'm not-"

"Yes you are…you've hardly touched her unless you had to, baby," Buffy said in the same soft tone, but she was persistent as well. "Tell me what's wrong. Are you nervous?"

Faith's eyes skipped away from her, and she played with the cuticles of one hand as she answered several moments later, her voice low, awkward.

"Well, yeah…I mean, look, B, I don't know what to do with her, I don't' know how to take care of her. You've seen me- I don't even hold her right. She cries when I hold her, and I'm her mother. She knows I don't know what the hell I'm doing…hell, I might drop her or break her or something."

For once Buffy decided to ignore her language, even though it was in front of the baby. She smiled at Faith reassuringly as she turned Callie to powder her bottom, her voice gentle.

"She's tougher than she looks, Faith…we made her, after all. You won't hurt her…and you're doing fine. This is just new to you is all, but you'll be fine. We've read the books, we know what to do. How hard can it be? Especially with everyone helping. I never killed Dawn when she was a baby."

"Yeah, but Dawn was never actually a baby," Faith pointed out. Buffy shrugged, putting a new diaper on Callie.

"Yeah, but I still have the memories, which means the not-killing-babies skills are there too. We'll be fine…wont we be fine, Callie girl?"

She reached to stroke Callie's cheek, smiling down at her…but suddenly Callie's eyes opened wide, and she began to choke, gagging. It looked to Buffy as if she couldn't breathe…

Buffy froze, her eyes widening, and her hand stilled against Callie's cheek as her eyes scanned her body frantically, as though looking for signs of what was wrong. Faith's eyes widened as well, and she hurriedly stepped closer to the changing table, examining Callie anxiously.

"What's going on?! Why is she making that noise?! She can't breathe! Oh god, she can't breathe, why can't she breathe?!" Buffy said shrilly, her face draining of color. Her mind was going blank, and she could think of nothing to do, no reason why this was happening… why was this happening?!

"Oh shit, they said this might happen," Faith muttered, her eyes as big as Buffy's, and with that she turned abruptly, running out of the room. Buffy turned her head frantically, her heartbeat speeding up. Callie was clearly choking now, her face a deep red…and Buffy didn't know what to do, she could barely bring herself to move.

"Faith!!!! What are you doing- she can't breathe! Oh god…FAITH!!!"

It was probably only a few seconds at most, but it seemed an infinitely long time before Faith hurried back into the room. In her hand was a nasal bulb suction for babies, one of the items the hospital had given them for Callie. Buffy had totally forgotten its existence…and in the moment, couldn't remember how to use it. Her panic increasing, she continued to chant shrilly, not even aware that she was doing so.

"Oh god oh god oh god…"

But Faith pushed her out of the way, albeit gently…and opening Callie's mouth, eased the bulb's tip down the back of her throat, holding her head back with one hand. With the other hand she squeezed the bulb, suctioning the mucus blocking Callie's breathing.

Buffy was holding her own breath, unblinking; a minute later Callie gasped, her color beginning to return to normal, and she began to cry loudly, obviously now able to draw breath. Watching her with vivid relief flooding through her, the child's wailing sounding almost magical to her ears, Buffy burst into tears, unable to keep from thinking what could have happened. Callie hadn't been breathing… her baby had stopped breathing, and she hadn't done anything. If Faith hadn't been there…if she hadn't…

Ignoring Buffy for the moment, Faith scooped Callie up and began to rock her back and forth, bouncing her slightly, cradling the infant's face to her shoulder- the way Buffy had shown her, she noticed. She rubbed Callie's back gently with one hand.

"Shh, baby, you're okay…it's okay, Mama's got you, you're okay…just a little snotty nose…"

Sniffling, tears still tracking down her cheeks, Buffy came to stand beside her, laying a shaking hand on Callie's back. She needed to feel her, to know she was okay. Faith covered her hand with her own and squeezed it, and Buffy looked Callie over with eyes still round with lingering shock.

"She's okay…but she wasn't breathing…"

"The doctors said we'd have to clean her nose out like that sometimes, remember?" Faith said, kissing the top of Callie's head. The baby's cries had quieted, and she continued to sway her as she held her close. As Faith looked at their daughter, her eyes were wide as well with amazement. "B…I helped her. I saved her. I just did it…

Buffy smiled slightly, squeezing her hand. She knew Faith would be fine…but now she was kinda worried about herself.


	12. Quiet moment

Story 12: Quiet moment

Buffy smiled as she came to stand in the living room entrance, watching the pair inside the room before her. Faith was sitting on the couch, cradling their week-old daughter in her arms, and smiling down at her softly. Callie was asleep, quiet and still for a change, and the picture she and Faith made for Buffy to look at was so sweet that Buffy almost hated to do or say anything for fear of altering it.

The baby was a week old now, and had been home for five days, but Buffy still loved to watch Faith hold her. For her to see Faith, who was so clearly a woman of great strength and power, who usually presented herself as a total badass and non-girly person, holding a small, helpless infant against her chest so gently made something twist and squeeze itself painfully but pleasantly in Buffy's chest. That this infant was her child- THEIR child- made it all the more breathtakingly amazing for Buffy to see.

Faith had been awkward with Callie at first, of course, especially if she thought someone was watching her handle her. As an only child tomboy who had very seldom been around young children or babies throughout her life, and who had had no real desire to, she found holding Callie strange and second guessed herself on everything having to do with caring for her. Buffy, having had had the memory of helping care for Dawn when she was a baby, if not the actual practice, had found it more natural, if also overwhelming. Between Dawn, Willow, and the others constantly being around in those first few days, more than eager to hold and care for the baby, Buffy hadn't realized at first that Faith was passing Callie off on everyone else to hold, diaper, and soothe every chance she got. It wasn't until Faith had saved Callie from choking on her own mucus just a few days ago that she had started to gain more confidence in herself as being capable of being a decent mother.

But now as she watched Faith hold Callie, Buffy smiled, thinking to herself how right and natural they looked. Crossing the room, Buffy sat close to them, smiling first at Faith, then down at their daughter's swaddled form. Callie's hair was still fine and dark, though Willow had told them it may fall out and change colors within a few weeks, as most babies' did. Her eyes were a cloudy blue, but that too, she had told them, would probably change when she was older. Right now, as far as her resemblances went, she was still mostly a blank slate… except for the dimples. Though she rarely made anything even close to a smile at her age, Callie, they could tell, would have Faith's dimples.

"Hey, baby," Buffy said softly to Callie, her face hovering over her, her voice a gentle coo. "How's my little girl?"

"Shh, she's sleeping, which means she's great and we want her to stay that way," Faith said quickly, and Buffy grinned. It still amused her sometimes to hear Faith saying in all seriousness something that sounded so utterly Mom-ish.

"Okay…keep sleeping, baby," Buffy said to Callie in a mock whisper, and Faith smirked.

"Thought I was your baby…I see how it is, my kid's gonna upstage me now."

"I got room for two, BABY," Buffy smiled, knowing Faith wasn't serious, and she wrapped her arms around her, resting the side of her head against Faith's. It was a good feeling, to hold Faith as she held their child… it felt complete, a full circle of their family. And that was what they were now…a family…

Buffy leaned to kiss Faith, resting her forehead against hers tenderly before looking down at Callie again, watching her small sleeping face in continued awe.

"We did good, Faith."

"WE? You didn't do shit, B, I was the one carrying her around in my gut all year and then squeezing out the kid that had to fight coming out every step of the way," Faith snorted, though still in a soft voice, and Buffy protested.

"I put up with your cravings and puking and crazy mood swings…and I let you break my hand and threaten to never have sex with me again, and I didn't' even complain!"

"You just screwed it up right now B- you just complained!" Faith said with a gleeful little smirk. "And by the way, totally doesn't compare. I could have died having this kid, you totally owe me."

"I could have died- you could have killed me when you were in one of your snits- but neither happened," Buffy griped, pouting slightly, but then she sighed and smiled, kissing Faith again.

"I love you…and I'm so proud of you. She's beautiful, Faith."

Faith smiled, looking down at their daughter with a softness that made Buffy just want to start kissing her all over. "She is beautiful, isn't she?"

Buffy chanced to bend to kiss the top of Callie's head…clearly a mistake, for Callie immediately woke up. Her eyes slitting, small face reddening, she began to cry in the loud, shrill, demanding way she always used to voice her displeasure- a behavior that each woman insisted she had inherited as a personality trait from the other. Giving Buffy a pointed look, Faith began to rock her, holding her close, but it was obvious that this would not be enough to please Callie.

"She must be hungry…little pig, I just fed her like two hours ago," Faith muttered, "she just wants to gum me raw, don't you? Isn't that what you want?"

Buffy snickered when her voice rose up to sing-song; the snickering stopped when Faith immodestly shoved up her shirt and bra, holding Callie to nurse. Buffy watched, grinning…for some reason she always found this so incredibly sexy to witness. Seeing her expression, Faith smirked.

"And you call me a perve. What are you, Xander?"

"Don't do this in front of him or Andrew- OR Kennedy," Buffy said quickly, and Faith laughed, dimples flashing.

"Giles or Willow might be fun though, huh?"

"Oh, ew! No, no one sees this except me," Buffy said hastily, and Faith grinned.

"What, you jealous? I got two, you know…you can have your turn later. I know how much you like-"

"Faith! Not in front of the baby!" Buffy said hurriedly, her eyes darting to the blissfully suckling child, and Faith laughed again, shaking her head.

"She's a week old. She doesn't understand."

"Well if you don't watch it, her first five words are gonna be 'fuck,' 'wicked,' 'five by five,' and 'sex,' whether she understands them or not," Buffy muttered, and Faith snickered.

"That's six words, B…hope she doesn't have your math ability."

"I said five twice- that only counts as one word!" Buffy protested, but she was grinning too as she tightened her arms around Faith, continuing to watch her hold her daughter as she fed. Yes, they had done good.


	13. Nightly feedings

Story 13: Night time duties

As the four-week-old infant's shrill cry suddenly pierced the very early morning's quiet, Buffy came groggily awake, her forehead scrunching in protest. She waited, some entirely too hopeful part of her expecting Faith to jump up, but that, of course, was silly to even hope for. The brunette didn't so much as stir; whether this was because she really was so heavily asleep, or because she was ignoring her daughter and hoping Buffy would tend to her, Buffy could not be sure. Both possibilities were equally likely.

"Faith," Buffy murmured, her voice heavy with sleep; it was hard to keep her eyes open. When this invoked no response, she raised her voice a little, her voice clearing up. "Faith…baby's crying…"

Still there was no response from Faith, who was lying close, but turned away from her. Frowning, Buffy reached over to shake her shoulder.

"Faith…Callie's crying…"

Faith groaned, turning and burying her head under her pillow. Scowling, irritated now and feeling more alert, Buffy shook her a little more insistently, sitting up and leaning over her now.

"Faith. Your daughter is crying. Go get her!"

"You heard her first," Faith shot back, keeping the pillow held tightly over her ears. "Leave me alone…you get her…"

"You've got the boobies," Buffy pointed out, not letting go of her, and Faith countered her.

"You've got boobies too, what the hell's that supposed to prove?"

"Mine aren't the ones she wants and you know it. She's hungry. Faith, go feed her!"

"You can feed her too- some of my pumped stuff," Faith muttered, and Buffy could tell from he voice she was more alert now.

"I did last time! It's your turn now- stop trying to get out of it, go get your daughter!" Buffy hissed, and Faith huffed, still not moving, her voice slightly muffled from under the pillow.

"Well then you bring her to me…if I gotta get up to feed her, you should at least have to bring her in here. I get milked like a cow, you at least have to fetch her."

"But-" Buffy protested, her voice rising, but as Callie's cries grew louder, and Faith showed no signs of abating in stubbornness, she huffed once more, flinging the blankets off herself and almost stomping out of the room. She knew full well that when Faith got like that, she didn't plan on budging any time soon. She was sooo annoying…

Callie had worked herself into a red-faced, flailing rage by the time Buffy entered the nursery. She was certainly not a patient infant, and protested vigorously when her needs and wants were not immediately met, as though indignant that she even had to ask. Buffy picked her up and held her to her shoulder, jigging her back and forth and wiping her wet cheeks for a few moments to try to calm her down.

"Shh…is my baby girl hungry? Yes, I know you are…your mean old Mama wouldn't get up to get you, would she? Because she's just too mean and lazy, yes she is…but your nice Mommy got you, didn't she? Nice Mommy's going to make Mama feed you… so you remember that when you're older, Callie."

Still talking to her in soft sing-song, half of it pointed remarks about Faith more than words actually aimed at the baby, Buffy carried Callie to their bedroom, sticking her finger in the baby's mouth to try to pacify her until she could eat. As she entered the room, giving Faith a pointed, resentful look, she saw that the other woman had finally sat up in bed, her expression foggy and still half asleep. Buffy started towards her still addressing Callie.

"Here's your mean Mama, you get to eat now, shhh…"

Faith slipped off her tank top, a simple action that quickly stopped Buffy's comments and resentful thoughts, and reached for the baby. As Buffy handed Callie over, watching Faith cradle her to her breast, leaning back against the headboard, she found herself smiling in spite of herself.

She sat down next to Faith in bed, resting her head against her shoulder and closing her eyes- only to jump when Faith pinched her.

"If I'm up, you're up, B. You gotta put her back to bed when she's done, remember?"

Scowling slightly, Buffy settled her head back against Faith's shoulder, but kept her eyes open this time. She didn't know why she even bothered protesting anymore…she knew she'd always lose. Somehow her pout no longer worked when it came to nightly feedings.


	14. Extended family

Story 14: Extended family

Author notes: In my little AU world here, the end of "You're welcome" onward in Angel season five didn't happen. So just nod and smile and act like you know what's going on, alright? Lol. Also people do remember Connor…so just go along with the ride

Angel was staring at the baby in Buffy's arms, seeming unable to think of anything to say for several moments as he met her for the first time. Her head turned toward him, Callie stared back at him gravely, as if utterly fascinated by the sight of him- and she probably was. Angel was the first vampire she had ever seen, and if she was to be a Slayer one day, she might sense what he was even as such an early age.

"She's so little," Angel said at last, his voice holding a note of amazement, and Faith grinned, smoothing a gentle hand over the pale fuzz of Callie's head.

"Yeah, they generally come like that, Angel- unless you're Cordy, of course," she said playfully, referring to Cordelia's birthing of the full-grown Jasmine two years before. Cordelia had come out of her coma almost a year ago and was fully functioning now, but it was generally only Faith, with her blunt ways, that ever brought up Jasmine or anything that had occurred during that time period. "Plus she's half B's so that kind of cinches her fate in being all pint-sized here."

Buffy smirked at her, adjusting her hold on Callie slightly; the infant was still gazing at Angel, almost unblinking. But the baby didn't seem afraid of him; in fact, she seemed utterly intrigued.

"So what do you think, Angel?" Faith asked, stroking Callie's head again tenderly. Callie took her eyes off of Angel long enough to pull her head away slightly, giving Faith what could only be described as a baby version of a Faith-ish scowl- a look that made Buffy grin widely. "She's pretty awesome isn't she? Thought we'd come up to see you guys since none of you came to us," she said with a raised eyebrow, smirking.

She was teasing, but Angel didn't seem to realize that; he looked up quickly from his gazing at the child and shook his head.

"Sorry…I know I should have, after she was born…just, it's been busy, with everything…"

"Yeah, yeah, no rest for the leader of the evil law firm and all," Faith rolled her eyes, but she wasn't angry. "We got the cradle though…it's pretty cool, she likes it better than her crib."

"Yeah, she likes to be rocked," Buffy added, realizing suddenly that she was swaying Callie unconsciously even as she talked and making herself stop. God, she was already such a mom.

"She has your eyes color, Faith," Angel said quietly as he took a slow step forward, looking Callie over as if he couldn't quite stop. "But she has your ears, Buffy…"

"My ears?" Buffy said in surprise, frowning as she looked down at Callie's, wishing she could look at her own as well. "How do you figure she has my /ears/?"

"'Cause they're so little, right, Angel?" Faith grinned, as Buffy made a face back at her.

It had been a little weird at first, when Buffy and Faith had first publicly came out as a couple. It wasn't like they saw Angel very often…but the times that they had had been awkward at first, because of the triangle of entwined sexual history between the three.

Faith and Buffy had thought it would probably be best if they just saw and spoke to Angel only when necessary, keeping things as discreet as possible, until Angel had deliberately arranged a meeting to talk to them. It wasn't just their relationship they needed to get out in the open- there was the fact that he was now the head of Wolfram and Hart, whose office they were now currently standing in with him, as well.

But Angel hadn't let them get very far in their fumbling of starting conversation. Looking them both in the eyes, he had told them that he was glad they were happy, that they deserved to be- and that he was proud of them. He wouldn't let the conversation go any further than that, despite Faith's several attempts- she had never been one to easily let things go. They both knew that he still loved Buffy, and Faith too, in a different way… but things were different now, Angel was different now, and he knew and accepted this without bitterness or pain.

Besides…it seemed pretty obvious just from the few times they'd seen and spoken to Angel since Cordelia had emerged from her coma that something was going on between them. Neither would come out with it so far, but Faith's not so subtle comments would have to force them to go public sooner or later.

It had been a little weird again when they had called to tell Angel Faith was pregnant…but now this too seemed something of the past as Angel continued to gaze at Callie in Buffy's arms, his expression strangely and rather amusingly soft.

"She reminds me of Connor," he said softly, and Buffy raised an eyebrow, a little offended in spite of herself.

"I hope not too much- she's a GIRL," she said defensively, brushing her hand over Callie's head as Faith had done before. "Faith, I told you she needs a ribbon or bow or something in her hair."

"B, she barely HAS hair to put in a bow, and no kid of mine is gonna be all frilly while I'm seen with her," Faith maintained. As Callie started to wiggle in Buffy's arms making faint grunting noises, Faith took her from her, propping the baby in her arms in such a way that she could face outward and see around herself.

"She's beautiful," Angel said quietly, and there was an odd longing, even pain, that flashed across his eyes. Looking over at him, Buffy knew he must be thinking about his own son and the childhood he had missed out in watching…and maybe the fact that he could have no other children. She doubted Faith realized this.

But it was Faith who was followed Angel's gaze to her daughter and spoke up casually.

"Want to hold her, Soulboy?"

Angel's face froze, and he lifted his hands quickly, shaking his head; eventually he even went so far as to take a step back.

"No…I don't think so, it's-"

"Ah, come on, man, I know you want to, you've got the gooey baby eyes," Faith laughed, her eyes glinting in amusement. "Look, if I haven't killed her yet then you won't either…right?"

Her voice became suddenly suspicious and unsure at the end, and she held Callie a little closer to her as she looked Angel over, as if searching for evil in him. Buffy smiled, but she eyed Angel quickly too before starting to gang up on him.

"Yeah, Angel, you can't really see a baby right if you don't hold her," she said mock earnestly.

When Angel hesitated, his eyes dropping to look at Callie again, Faith simply stepped forward and transferred her to his arms without further ado.

"Here you go…see, she likes you, she actually holds still for you. B, I think our daughter is definitely 100% straight, she always goes all quiet and still and starey when men hold her."

"Do you think she's boy-crazy? Is she already boy-crazy? Can you be boy-crazy when you're only a baby?" Buffy asked with sudden alarm and Faith burst out laughing.

"B, was that a serious question?"

"Well, babies are sexual too- I learned that in my psychology class!" Buffy said defensively. "Freud used to say that, he-"

"Freud?!" Faith practically yelled, fully guffawing now, and Callie's eyes shifted to her briefly, her eyebrows rising in alarm. "B you took ONE psych class like five years ago and suddenly you think that makes you Dr. Phil?"

"He's not a psychiatrist! He's just-" Buffy began, but Angel hadn't been paying attention to either of them. Holding Callie in his arms, he stared down at her with his eyes glinting strangely before he broke out into a goofy smile.

"Hey there, little baby," he said in a voice that was much higher and sweeter than normal, letting his face lean close to Callie's. "How are you? How /are/ you, little girl?"

Buffy stopped talking, and she and Faith looked at each other, both grinning widely. Faith spoke up with her eyes gleaming with amusement and mischievous intent.

"She likes it when your voice is higher…she really smiles then," she said in a deceptively casual tone, though Buffy could tell that her dimples were just threatening to burst forth.

Angel looked over at her quickly, frowning, seeming unable to decide if she was messing with him or not. As he looked back at Callie, who stared at him with round, fascinated eyes, Buffy hid a grin of her own as she spoke up in supposed serious critique.

"Yeah, you need a slightly higher pitch to it, Angel…baby's ears are very sensitive, you know, they really like it when they can hear sounds like that, ones that go up in their upper hearing range."

Frowning, seeming to be considering this, Angel looked down at the baby, his voice cracking as he tried to aim it up to a higher pitch.

"Hey, Callie…is this better? Does the baby girl like this better?"

Just then the door to the office opened, and Cordelia nearly strutted in, her face drawn into a narrow-eyed suspicious look.

"Okay, either there's a demon in here or you've gone evil, because that irritating shrill noise CANNOT be- ohhh it's a baby! Where did you get the baby?"

She hurried forward, seemingly having managed to have blocked out Buffy's and Faith's presence entirely as she went to Angel's side to peer down at Callie as well. This only further amused Faith, sending her into further gales of laughter that made her lean somewhat weakly against the wall. Buffy, however, was a tad bit miffed, and she spoke up a little pointedly.

"He got her from us…you know, the ones standing right here?"

"Oh, she's yours?" Cordelia half turned, seemingly genuinely surprised but unruffled to see them, and she gave them both such warm smiles that Buffy was somewhat mollified. Maybe her coma had affected her vision or focus or something- and Callie did tend to divert people's attention. "I can see it now, she looks just like you, Faith…oh, and good thing, she's got your nose too!"

"Got HER nose? Why do people keep implying something's wrong with MY nose?" Buffy said indignantly, but also with some worry as she self consciously touched it. Faith grinned and leaned to kiss its tip as Cordelia ignored her, beaming down at the now even more alert baby.

"Don't sweat it, B, quirks are hot. Like scars."

"It's not a QUIRK, it's just a normal NOSE!" Buffy said loudly, and the office door opened again, a green-skinned demon in a loud red suit sticking his head inside.

"The feeling in here is very intense, what's going- oh, hello there, Faith, Buffy!" he said warmly, going to hug both women with a smile. "And hello, beautiful little munchkin! She /is/ yours, I assume?"

"Yep," Faith said proudly, smiling back, and Lorne's red eyes glowed as he went to join the crowd gathering around the child.

"She's absolutely darling, girls- a perfect little cherub! Someone should tell Fred she's here, she'll want to see, I'm sure."

"Oh I'll call her," Cordelia said quickly, extracting her cell phone from her purse and detaching herself from the baby's general vicinity long enough to speed dial Fred. "Fred? Angel's got a baby, come see! In his office- what? Oh, yeah, Faith and Buffy's…go get Gunn and Wes too!"

Hanging up, she immediately turned her attention to Callie, speaking in a singsong not unlike Angel's earlier efforts.

"Yes, you're a good girl…you want your Aunt Cordy to hold you, don't you, Callie? Isn't that what you want? Your Uncle Angel doesn't know how to do it right…"

"Hey," Angel protested, backing up a half step protectively, as if afraid Cordelia would snatch the child from him. "Uncle Angel is doing just fine. Uncle Angel HAD a baby, remember?"

"Yes, and that little baby lovvved it when his Cordy held him," Cordelia replied in the same gentle singsong before looking up at Angel with a pointed scowl, dropping her voice to a normal tone. "So hand over the baby, don't be greedy."

As Angel reluctantly shifted Callie into Cordelia's waiting arms, glancing at Buffy and Faith first as if for permission, the door to the office opened yet again, and Fred burst through excitedly, Gunn and Wesley following somewhat more composedly in her trail.

"Ohhh look at her, she's so sweet… Wesley, isn't she beautiful? You should hold her- that is, if it's okay…"

"Well, I don't think that's-" Wesley began awkwardly, glancing at the Slayers, but Fred wouldn't let him finish his sentence.

"Hey, no, it's okay, I'll just-" Gunn started to back up too, even as he looked at Callie with a little smile, but Fred just rolled her eyes.

"Stop being so silly, everyone knows you want to. So if they're okay with it…"

She grabbed each man by his sleeve and walked them quickly with her to the considerable crowd forming around the baby, who had now been passed on to Lorne, first smiling and greeting Buffy and Faith enthusiastically. Buffy and Faith stood back as Lorne began to sing to Callie softly, smiling, but still watching closely. They would have thought that such a throng of strangers around her, particularly a sinister-looking demon, would have scared their daughter, but she seemed to absolutely love the attention, staring around at all the new faces. She seemed to recognize them, to regard them as just more family. Buffy had been a little nervous at first about coming, and not only because it was Wolfram and Hart…but as she watched the people gather around Callie, she knew no harm would come to her child with any of them present. No doubt about it…however unconventional her "family" might be, their daughter would never lack for love.

Author notes: Guys…I have written up to Callie being four now story wise and have 19 stories written, 5 more planned. Need more ideas for Callie between the ages of eight months and 8 years…so anyone who has any ideas let me know!


	15. Separation anxiety

Story 15: Separation anxiety

"Are you sure you can do this?" Buffy asked anxiously, her brow furrowing; her eyes showed clearly torn feelings as she stood near the doorway. "I don't know- if you're not okay with this-"

"Of course I'm okay with this, Buff- me and my gal pal Cal are gonna have a good time tonight, aren't we, Callie?" Xander replied, ruffling the tiny amount of pale fuzz on Callie's head gently as he smiled at Buffy. Buffy shook her head, not in any way reassured.

"That's kinda what I was afraid of," she muttered. "Maybe we should have just called Willow."

"B, chill out," Faith commanded as she looped her arm through Buffy's, anchoring her from any attempts to move toward the phone. "She's going out too, don't pull the 'come watch my kid' card. Xander will be fine with Callie. And anyway Dawn's home from college this weekend, she'll help if he needs it."

"She's writing a paper," Buffy said worriedly. "She might get all caught up in it and not hear if something happens-"

"Are you kidding yourself?" Faith snorted, shaking her head. "The minute we leave she'll be down here goo-gooing over the baby with X-Man and you know it."

"Seriously Buff, I got it," Xander said easily, shifting Callie's weight against his shoulder slightly. Buffy watched him sharply, terrified he would drop her. He never had so far…and Callie seemed to like him, since she never cried when he held her…but there was a first time for everything.

"I don't know," Buffy said anxiously, biting her lip, as she glanced between her daughter and Faith. "Maybe we should just stay home…wait until she's a little older…"

"No, no, we ARE going out, B," Faith said more insistently, tightening her hold on Buffy quickly. "She's over three months old, she'll be fine. It's just a few hours, now come on."

"Okay…" Buffy said reluctantly, allowing Faith to tug at her arm, but she brought them both to a stop quickly as she turned around to address Xander worriedly again.

"There's a list on the fridge of numbers to call if something happens. The police, fire department, Giles, ambulance, Faith's cell phone, the movie theater's number, a shaman we know, an exorcist, Angel, Andrew-"

"Whoa…I know you're covering all bases when you include Andrew in the list," Xander smirked, and Faith rolled her eyes.

"B, CHILL! He saw your Bible manuscript on the fridge. Now just get going already, we're gonna be late if you stand here giving orders all night."

She pulled Buffy around to face the door again, reaching to open it, but Buffy was slow to follow, looking over her shoulder at Xander quickly once more, not through with her instructions.

"Callie likes you to move around with her if she's crying- and she likes music. Heavy metal, thanks to Faith's pregnancy music of choice, so we got some CDs by her crib, and a portable CD player. Oh, and she doesn't like to suck on pacifiers- she likes to suck on your fingers instead. But not her fingers, your fingers. But wash your hands first! And don't cough or sneeze on her! Oh, and if she starts choking, it's because her nose is snotty, so you need to use that sucky thing- you know how to use it, right? I showed you?"

"Yes, you showed me…a lot," Xander muttered with a slight shudder, but Buffy wasn't convinced.

"I told you that she almost died one time because she had a snotty nose, didn't I? It's really important, Xander, are you SURE you can do it?"

"I've got it, Buff, really- now go have fun. Make out, do all that couply stuff," Xander urged, jerking his head towards the door for emphasis, and Faith backed him up.

"B, seriously, overprotective much?" she said, amused, but also irritated by this point as her fingers tightened around the blonde's arm. "Come ON!"

"She likes when you sing- or read to her- she likes you to tell stories," Buffy said quickly as Faith opened the door, her voice speeding up to get it out before Faith dragged her away. "And Faith's milk is in the fridge- I showed you right? And you know how to warm it up for her?"

"Yesss," Xander said with exaggerated patience as Callie lay against him contently, not even fussing or squirming like she often did with her mothers. That set off new anxiety for Buffy. Wouldn't Callie even miss them? What did it mean if her baby didn't miss her? "Buffy, I'll take care of her, and so will Dawn if I need help with something. But I think since you've gone over every possible crisis, including possible apocalypses, that we'll be fine. Go relax, have fun…if the apocalypse comes I'll beep you," he said with a wry grin, and Faith smirked.

Buffy, however, did not find this amusing.

"Call us if you need us!" she said fretfully as Faith steered her out the door. "Call if Callie needs us! Oh- and don't let any vampires in- and tell Dawn not to let any in!"

"Jeez, B, you'd think you were the one who had her on an umbilical cord," Faith muttered as they got into the car, rolling her eyes for the umpteenth time. "You really gotta learn to let go, or else how spazzy are you gonna be when she goes to kindergarten?"

"That's a long way off- very, very long," Buffy said quickly, unwilling to even think about it. "Callie's so little now though, Faith…I think we should have at least made Willow or Giles look after her. Xander, he's just-"

"He's fine. She likes him, he likes her, stop it already. She'll be fine. Now come on- it's just a few hours, and I'm stoked even if you're not to finally get some time away. Love Cal and all, but sometimes I just wanna be with you…you know?" Faith said more quietly, glancing at Buffy. "So let's just have some fun…the night will go by way fast once you relax…"

8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

Thirty minutes later in the darkened movie theater, Faith shifted in her seat for the eighth time; her arm readjusted itself around Buffy's shoulders as she leaned her mouth to the other woman's ear, whispering loudly for the third time in ten minutes.

"B…you think Xan's gonna remember all the stuff you told him?"

Buffy frowned; she had been worrying about that before they even left the house. And Faith's obvious discomfort now was making it no better.

"I hope so…"

"He can recognize vamps..right? He knows if there's one at the door," Faith persisted, her features faintly pinched with worry, and Buffy frowned even more deeply, her stomach tightening.

"Usually…but they're tricky sometimes."

Faith's eyes widened with increasing worry, darkening with thought, and less than two minutes passed before she was whispering again.

"You think she's crying?"

"I don't know," Buffy said anxiously, her eyebrows knitting, eyes glinting as she thought about it. "Do you?"

"What if she's crying?" Faith persisted, her voice revealing her distress at the thought plainly. "What if she's been crying ever since we left?"

"She probably hasn't been," Buffy said more hopefully than assuredly, even going so far as to cross her fingers. "She likes Dawn and Xander…"

Another few minutes passed before Faith was whispering again, her voice tense.

"What if she has been crying though…what if she needs us?"

"It's only a few hours," Buffy said slowly, taking a deep breath and taking Faith's hand to squeeze it in hers. "We'll be going home soon…we can eat somewhere fast after this…or skip that and just go back…"

"Yeah…yeah, let's do that," Faith muttered, and her arm around Buffy's shoulders tightened. Neither were paying any attention to the movie whatsoever, despite the array of hot females in the cast Faith had been so eager to watch.

It was going to be a long few hours.


	16. Potential Problem

Story 16: Potential problem

Callie grinned, her round, chubby face displaying prominent dimples as Buffy gently rolled her the multi-colored, large plastic ball. Dawn cheered as she gently helped the baby stop the ball's path, holding her small hands in hers and bring them up to clap them together.

"Yay, Callie! Good job!" she cheered in the usual high-pitched tone that even Giles and Xander naturally attempted to adapt when addressing Callie. Faith had, while pregnant, sworn repeatedly that she would never sound so stupid when talking to her daughter, but Buffy had caught her using that exact tone several times before Callie was even born- and now, of course, it was her daily, unremarkable way of addressing their daughter. It was funny how parenting changed everything…

The three of them- Buffy, Faith, and Dawn- were sitting on the living room rug in a triangle, with Dawn holding Callie sitting up against her in between her legs. Faith and Buffy were taking turns with rolling Callie the new ball her Aunt Dawn had showed up with for her, and Callie, with Dawn's help, was clearly enjoying the new game. She laughed gleefully, and all three women grinned, loving the sound of her pleasure. Dawn bent to kiss the top of her head, ruffling her hair affectionately as she addressed her again.

"You're just the cutest baby ever, aren't you…just the cutest little ball-catching baby ever!"

Callie giggled again, as though in agreement, and batted her hand against the ball, as if asking Dawn to help her roll it again. As Dawn did so, rolling it to Faith, Buffy was smiling, looking at her sister and daughter with great tenderness.

Callie was six months and three weeks old now, and already such a different child from the one they had brought home from the hospital. She was sitting up on her own now, starting to crawl, and rolled over, laughing and making sounds, bright and aware of everything around her. This had to have been helped by the fact that there was ALWAYS someone around her, wanting to hold her and play with her. With her large extended family, Callie was dearly loved and unlikely, as she grew older, to ever have a chance to be bored or lonely for long.

As everyone had figured, she was physically so far a combination of Buffy and Faith in appearance. She had Buffy's straight blonde hair and eye shape, but Faith's dimples, dark brown eyes, and more solid build- though Dawn and Kennedy, to Buffy's irritation and Faith's occasional anger, referred to Callie's build as chubby. She was a baby though, so Buffy wasn't too worried about that. Whatever word she used to describe Callie, her daughter, she was firmly convinced, was the most gorgeous baby ever made or magicked into existence.

And thankfully, she was finally beginning to sleep through the night. Buffy didn't know how much longer she could have taken waking up with Faith several times through the night for her to feed Callie- because it was Faith's policy that if she had to get up with the baby, so did Buffy. There had been a period, unbelievably, where they had actually been too tired to think about sex often…and that was simply scary.

Callie still screamed like a banshee when she wanted or needed something, but luckily that was happening less often now that she was older and, as Faith put it, less pissed off about being kicked out of lounging around in her stomach. Right now, Callie was old enough to actually play with a little- and so a lot more fun.

"Catch the ball, Callie! Catch the ball with Aunt Dawn!" Faith called, and as she rolled the ball, with Dawn helping Callie catch it, Callie giggled again.

"Hey, good girl, Callie! You got the ball! You got the ball with your Aunt Dawn!" Buffy praised, and Callie grinned, dimples deepening in her cheeks.

"Ahh Dahh!"

At that utterance, all three women's smiles flickered, freezing, on their faces, and all eyes darted to Callie, who was still grinning, expectant, not understanding their sudden intensity. The women's eyes were wide, disbelieving, and Faith shook her head quickly.

"Did she just say…no way. No WAY…"

"No, she must have been babbling," Buffy said hurriedly, shaking her head too and speaking faster than normal. Because Faith was right…there was no way those were words, Callie's first words…NO WAY! "She's just making sounds, she's only six months-"

"They sounded like words to me!" Dawn protested, her voice rising excitedly, face flushed. "It sounded like she was trying to talk to me! It sounded like she was trying to say-"

"Well she wasn't, alright?" Faith cut her off hurriedly, her voice slightly louder and sharper than usual. "She wasn't, she wasn't saying anything…yet. Right, B?"

"Right," Buffy agreed quickly, nodding, "she was just-"

"Well I think she was…weren't you, Callie? Were you talking to your Aunt Dawn?" Dawn addressed the baby again, leaning her head down close to Callie's. "Weren't you saying my name…did you say Aunt Dawn?"

"Ahhh Daaaahhh…" Callie agreed, reaching for Dawn's nose, and Dawn squealed, causing Callie to blink, startled, as she hugged her to her chest.

"Did you hear that?! She said Aunt Dawn! She said my name! It's her first words- MY NAME- is her first words!"

Both Buffy and Faith started, disbelieving, not exactly secretly resentful of this occurrence. In fact, neither was able to keep her thoughts to herself.

"WHAT?!" Faith blurted, her voice far from serene, and Buffy echoed her a split second later.

"WHAT?! After we BOTH kept saying mommy and mama to her until we're blue in the face, her first word is AUNT DAWN?"

"Can you blame her?" Dawn smirked, picking Callie up and kissing both cheeks, cuddling her to her chest. "I'm the cool aunt…you're just the stinky old mommies. Aren't they the stinky old mommies, Callie?"

"You have GOT to be kidding me…are you serious here, Cal?" Faith said incredulously, scowling, and she shook her head. "I gave birth to you…I was in hormone overdrive over you…I woke up with you every night all of your life, are you SERIOUS? Fuck…"

"Fuggg," Callie beamed, wrapping a chubby fist around a lock of Dawn's hair, and the women froze all over again as Buffy elbowed Faith sharply in the ribs, glaring at her furiously. Seeing this, Callie giggled, encouraged, and piped up again, beaming innocently.

"Fugggg…"

This…could be a problem.


	17. Holiday cheer

Story 17: Holiday cheers

"Does this have alcohol in it?" Willow asked, holding up her mug of spiced eggnog as she glanced across the room at Buffy, and Faith smirked as she replied.

"Of course it does. You think I'd let a holiday go by without it?"

"Which is why YOU don't get any," Buffy said quickly as she snatched Dawn's wrist, as the younger Summers girl had reached for the beverage's ladle to help herself to a glass. "There's non-alcoholic stuff for you in the fridge, Dawn, and I AM watching you to see if you try to switch."

"Hey, come on, I'm almost eighteen!" Dawn protested, giving Buffy a dark look of incredulity, and Faith smirked again as she watched them in amusement.

"Eighteen isn't 21," Buffy pointed out as she retrieved the non-alcoholic eggnog from the fridge and handed it to her, only to meet Dawn's glower.

"I bet every single one of you was drinking before eighteen, weren't you?" Dawn demanded, spinning around to focus on Faith. "Faith, I KNOW you did- and you too, Kennedy! Wait a minute, you're not 21 either, are you?"

"I'm also not her sister," Kennedy said unconcernedly, giving Dawn a slightly twisted smile, and Faith shrugged, also unbothered.

"I was drinking by the time I was twelve, yeah," she replied, and Buffy ignored them both.

"Yeah, well, you can keep your brain cells alive and healthy longer than those two," she said as she steered Dawn back towards the others in the living room. Faith smirked as Dawn sat beside her with a scowl, kicking out at the piles of wrapping paper on the floor before her. Buffy had noticed Willow eyeing the mess earlier, along with Giles, and knew they were itching to pick it up, but she and Faith liked to leave it out for a while. It just looked more fun and festive, even if it was kind of in the way of everyone.

"Hey, I think my brain's alright- it won't kill her to have one drink, B," Faith remarked mildly, and Dawn, sensing an ally, rushed to agree with her.

"Yeah, like it's really sooo bad for you? I've already drank at college anyway and my brain is fine-"

"What?!" Buffy sputtered, wheeling around to face her sister wide-eyed; she knew that everyone drank in college, but she had somehow managed to convince herself that HER sister was unique. "Excuse me, WHAT?!"

"Ha, I remember when you were still in college freshman year, Buffy, and I gave you that caveman beer from that bartender- what was it, Black Frost?" Xander piped up, grinning at the memory. "And you thought the TV was-"

"No you don't," Buffy said hurriedly, her eyes flickering between a very interested Dawn, Kennedy, and Faith, who had never heard this before, to where Giles was sitting with his girlfriend Christine, who she had only met a week ago. Her gaze also landed on her daughter, who was currently sitting on Christine's knee and reaching for her glasses. She didn't want her eight-month-old to hear this story either. The baby was learning more and more words lately, and she seemed to especially focus on one's inappropriate for a baby's mouth. Definitely a Faith inheritance.

"Aw, I think Callie likes you, Christine!" Buffy said loudly, trying to divert everyone's attention to her daughter. This was usually a surefire method, and sure enough, everyone looked over at the baby and smiled.

"She's adorable," Christine replied warmly, smiling first at the baby, then up at Buffy. "You're blessed to have her."

Callie squirmed, now having seemingly lost interest, and reached for Giles with one chubby fist.

"Pa…papapa!"

Giles reached to take the child from his girlfriend, smiling as he held her so that she was standing on his legs, supporting most of her own weight.

"Yes, yes, I'm right here, Callie- is it my glasses that you want now?"

Callie grinned, reaching for them even as he spoke, her two new teeth displayed. Those teeth had kept her mothers up all night and day just a week ago as she screamed in pain with their emergence. In the new red dress "Santa" had given her and white lacy socks- none of this Faith's idea, of course- she looked like a little Christmasy imp baby. As she succeeded in closing her hand on Giles's glasses, clumsily pulling them off his face, she giggled, dimples deepening in her cheeks, dark eyes shining.

"Pa pa pa!"

As everyone began to focus their attention on Giles and the baby, Faith nudged Buffy, smirking. "Might be able to distract them, B, but my mind doesn't work that way. What's this about the caveman beer experience?"

"Yeah, I don't believe I've heard that before- what gives?" Kennedy snapped her attention back to them, also smirking at the blonde slyly.

"That's such a stupid story, and it was so long ago- I'm sure you'd rather talk about something else," Buffy said quickly but pointedly, looking straight at Faith, and Faith grinned wickedly.

"Alright, sure thing babe. Remember the time you go so drunk at the beach and you decided to take off your clothes and-"

"NO, I do NOT!" Buffy hissed, her eyes narrowing in horrified anger at her lover, and she clamped a hand over her mouth, squawking when Faith licked it. "Ew! You're so gross!"

"Bet that's not what you usually say," Kennedy snickered, still paying much more attention to Buffy's and Faith's babblings than their daughter's. "She keep you on a tight leash, Faith?"

"Yeah, I like the kink of it," Faith grinned, her words muffled behind Buffy's hand, and Buffy's eyes widened.

"Faith!!!"

Her eyes darted over to the others, and removing her hand from Faith's mouth quickly she called out, "Don't let Callie play with the tree lights! She might bite through them!"

As Xander swooped Callie up high into the air, eliciting her squeals of glee, Willow smiled over at her girlfriend and the Slayers.

"This is really nice…all of us being able to be together like this for once. And the house looks nice too, how you decorated…well, it did look nice," she added wryly, looking down at the scattered wrapping paper, cups, and plates from earlier eating that was apparently still bothering her.

"Thanks," Buffy smiled, relieved that they seemed to be fully off the subject of drunken escapades. "Faith and Callie don't seem to see the point of decorating some things," she aimed at Faith with a slightly resentful tone, though she was smiling, and Faith snorted.

"Can't help it if I'd rather eat candy canes than hang them on trees and garlands. Callie would rather eat them too, she's sensible and all that."

"Yeah, and I TOLD you not to let her lick all of them- it might have broken off in her mouth, and she could have choked," Buffy muttered, though she was standing a little closer now, almost leaning into Faith.

Smiling, Faith slipped an arm around her, pulling her closer to her side. "Yeah, and she didn't mind did you Cal? She didn't choke-"

As she looked across the living room searching for her daughter, she saw that the child was crawling in the middle of the floor, half covered in wrapping paper and therefore experiencing difficulty in doing so. She looked almost like she was swimming in it. On the floor beside her, Dawn and Xander looked like islands, pieces strewn all around their legs, and both Buffy and Faith looked at each other and laughed, quickly giving Callie back to Giles to hold before sitting down in the midst of it as well, beginning to toss pieces at each other. A moment later they were joined by Kennedy, then a slightly more reluctant Willow, who loosened up quickly and was soon laughing as much as the rest of them as she pelted them with paper. As Callie watched with round eyes, wiggling on Giles's lap, Buffy grinned.


	18. Security figure

Story 19: Security figure

As Faith stepped through the front door of her home, having just returned from patrolling, the sound of her ten-month-old daughter's loud crying instantly pierced her ears. It was nearly eleven pm, much later than Callie would normally be up, and the baby rarely made such a fuss even when she did wake up at night now. The two factors together made Faith's heart clinch in alarm, and she hurried down the hall to Callie's room, throwing the door open and looking inside anxiously.

"B, what's going on? What the hell is wrong with her, is she okay?"

Standing beside Callie's bed, Buffy was bouncing the baby back and forth, holding her on her hip and attempting to shush her, talking to her soothingly and rubbing her back. Callie was rigid against her, resisting her attempts to comfort her, her pale fuzzy hair sticking out in tufts around her head. Her face was red and shiny with her tears, her nose running. Although she looked very much distressed, her eyebrows slanted downward, lips quivering, she also was clearly frustrated, for when Buffy tried to wipe her face, Callie turned her head, whining sharply.

"No! No…bwabwa…bwabwa! Bwabwa!"

"She wants my bra," Buffy explained, her eyes wide, weary, more than just an edge of desperation to her voice. "That's all she keeps saying, she won't stop crying for it…Faith, she wants my bra!"

"Well then GIVE it to her, Buffy, what's the matter with you?! You know how she is abou the thing!" Faith said incredulously, gesturing rapidly with her hands for Buffy to get on with it. As she stared at them, Buffy tried again to use a Kleenex to wipe Callie's nose, only to be met with her intensifying scream at her for her efforts.

"Buffy, give it to her! Don't you know where it is?" Faith repeated when Buffy didn't answer her immediately or move to get the desired object. "Where is it? Don't you know where it is?"

It wasn't her imagination that time' Buffy's eyes had definitely skipped away from her own, and she was definitely not answering her deliberately. As a sudden, horrifying suspicion came over her, Faith's mouth dropped, and she moved closer to them quickly, her voice rising.

"Oh god…you can't find it, can you? Don't tell me she lost it…Buffy, don't you dare tell me she lost it!"

Both women understood all too well the terrifying implications if this were true. If the bra was lost…well, this was going to be a hellaciously long night.

All this was Faith's fault when it came down to it, and she definitely regretted it now. It had started a couple of months ago, in the middle of one of Buffy's and Faith's arguments. Faith couldn't even remember how it had started, but she knew neither of them would ever forget how it had ended. At some point in their griping at each other, Buffy had accused Faith of never folding and putting away the laundry once Buffy had washed it. Once they had both stalked off, miffed and scowling, Faith had decided to show Buffy a thing or two. She had gone to put up the laundry all right- only she had spread it all around the house in random places, where Buffy would have to walk all around hunting for the things she needed. Faith had gotten grim pleasure out of imagining her rushing around looking for everything, getting more and more irritated. She had planned on standing back nonchalantly smirking to herself, enjoying the show- even if Buffy got really pissed at her.

That plan had worked for a while, and Faith had indeed enjoyed herself for a span of time…except for one small detail.

Faith had hooked one of Buffy's bras over Callie's crib on her mobile, snickering to herself about how goofy it looked…and that had been a major mistake. By the time Buffy found it, Callie had pulled it down and was cuddling it to her cheek, chewing on one of the straps. Buffy had been horrified as it was one of her good silky bras, and tried to pry it away from her, but Callie had screamed like it was her fingers they were trying to take from her.

From then on there was no getting the thing out of her sight. The bra became Callie's security blanket of sorts, and everywhere she went, it had to go too. At first Faith found this highly amusing, especially watching Buffy's reactions. The blonde was embarrassed to no end to take her baby to the grocery store or around Giles or Xander clutching her bra in a chubby fist. But when it became clear that the bra HAD to always be with Callie, it no longer seemed so funny. Buffy had tried to get Callie to take blankets, shirts, teddy bears instead, and had even, frustrated, attempted to get her to accept one of Faith's bras. But in Callie's mind there was no substitute, they had unfortunately learned.

"Buffy, where is it?" Faith asked in near panic, her voice rising, and Buffy spoke evasively as she tried to calm Callie.

"It's not lost…exactly…I just kind of took it from her…"

"WHAT?" Faith burst out with, eyebrows shooting upward, and Buffy hurried to clarify.

"She was sleeping! I just wanted to wash it! I'm just WASHING it!"

"Oh jeez B, are you serious? Did you have to?" Faith asked in disbelief, shaking her head. "Why the hell did you do that?"

"It was all germy!" Buffy said defensively, as she shifted Callie to her other hip. "She's always sucking on it and it's all gross and dirty! She usually sleeps through the night, how was I supposed to know that she would wake up?"

"How long until it's finished? And how long has she been crying like that? Give her to me," Faith demanded, taking Callie from Buffy, but the baby resisted her attempts at comfort as well. Her little face was so bright in hue that it scared her; she was afraid the baby would choke.

"It's only got like twenty minutes left until it's dry, I checked…and god, I don't know how long, it seems like hours," Buffy sighed, her shoulders slumping as she flopped down on the floor, leaning against Callie's crib. "Maybe you should put her down, she doesn't seem to want to be held right now…"

The next few minutes passed excruciatingly slowly. Callie's crying was starting to fade from her exhausting herself, and Faith couldn't stand the sound of her snuffling sobs. Barely three minutes had passed before she shot Buffy another angry glance and stalked into the laundry room, throwing the dryer open and extracting the still-slightly-damp bra. As she hurried back to the nursery she saw that Buffy, still sitting on the floor, was trying to show a picture book to distract Callie. Callie was sitting near her rather than in her lap, presumably because she had balked at being held, and even with her nerves as fried as they were, Faith had to smirk to herself about how stubborn her daughter was.

"Look, Cal, here's your bra!" she said loudly as she held it up for the baby to see in the doorway. "No more crying, Mama got it!"

As Callie turned her head toward her, wet brown eyes widened, and she stopped crying abruptly. Without warning she grabbed the bars of her crib, using them to pull herself up…and then, letting go, took a step away from it, toward Faith. She took one other tottery step before falling, making a frustrated cry and hitting the ground with her palm. Buffy and Faith stared, almost frozen… for those were Callie's first steps.

As they rushed over to her, voices raised in excitement, Callie ignored them, finally content not with their attention, but because she finally had Buffy's bra clutched to her cheek.


	19. Halloween

Story 18: Halloween

"She could have totally been something cooler," Faith muttered, leaning partly against the wall and watching as Buffy attempted to keep their restless toddler still long enough to put some makeup on her face. "She should have been, like, a superhero. Batman or the Joker or something."

"Faith, she's two," Buffy pointed out, shaking her head as she brushed back a lock of honey-hued hair from Callie's face, trying to keep it from getting in the way of the goop she was trying to spread evenly across it. "AND she's a little girl. She might like to watch Batman cartoons, but that doesn't mean she needs to BE Batman. You picked for her the year before with the devil outfit, I picked the year before that with the blue M&M, this year she gets to pick, and this is what she picked, isn't it, Callie? Callie, honey, hold still, Mommy can't do this when you keep turning your head," Buffy told the toddler, turning her head with one makeup-spattered hand, and Faith watched idly, amused, much to Buffy's irritation.

She could HELP, but nooo, she was just going to stand there and gripe about costume. And look at FAITH'S costume, she was just lucky Buffy was even letting her out of the house in that!

"Still, would have been cool if she was Batman," Faith remarked, and Buffy gave her a very irritated look while wiping excess makeup off Callie's nose and chin.

"Faith, if YOU wanted to be Batman, you could have been, you know. It would have been something that didn't risk you being arrested for indecent exposure the second you step out into public areas," Buffy snapped, her eyes deliberately traveling up and down the length of Faith's body. Faith looked down at herself as if she were unable to understand what she was talking about.

"I'm Wonder Woman, B, this is the way I'm supposed to look."

"You're already a C cup, is the push up bra really necessary? AND the hot pants?" Buffy asked, a bit of quite obvious resentment showing in her tone. "It's practically a porn show…just anyone could see. I think you should save those kind of costumes for just me."

"What's powwn?" Callie piped up, to Buffy's consternation, and Faith grinned as she lied through her teeth.

"It's a special kind of corn, Cal."

"Cawwie wants powwn," the child called, squirming away from Buffy's hand again and pouting. "Don't like this! Stop, mommy!"

"Callie's getting candy soon, remember?" Buffy said quickly, hoping the magic C word would make her forget the newest one added to her vocabulary. "And I'm almost done, honey, you have to have makeup for your costume."

"Want tandy!" Callie exclaimed, as distracted as she had hoped, and she bounced up and down, making Buffy's hand slip.

"Aggh! Faith, come help- hold her in your lap and hold her hair back," Buffy ordered, and the look she gave her lover gave Faith no space to refuse. Faith sauntered over to obey, still smirking as she eyed Buffy and her outfit with amusement for the tenth time or so.

"Seriously B…Little Bo Peep?" she snickered, shaking her head as she held Callie against her mostly-bare chest. "Are you trying to punish me here, or just make me embarrassed to be seen in public with you?"

"It's more appropriate for children to see than YOUR outfit…in fact, it's more appropriate for the general public to see," Buffy said defensively, shaking a corkscrew curl off the side of her face as she continued to work with Callie. She had to admit though, all the lace and ruffled long skirts were a pain, especially if she needed to be mobile later tonight. Whatever- Faith with her practically naked attire would have no difficulty in that department. She could take over if needed…wasn't she COLD dressed like that though?

Faith snorted, just shaking her head with her dark eyes glinting in amusement, and Buffy glared at her again.

"Little Bo Peep is a good costume!"

"Wiw Bo Peep lost huw sheep," Callie piped up, trying to twist her head to look up at Faith for approval, and her mothers smiled. Though Callie, at only two and a half, still pronounced words in a lisping manner, they always found her pretty easy to understand.

"That's right, sweetie," Buffy told her, "good job. How about Jack Be Nimble, Jack Be Quick? Do you remember what he did, Callie? Jack be Nimble, Jack be Quick…"

"Jump ober the can'le dick," Callie said proudly, and Buffy's eyes widened. Faith, however, guffawed, holding up her hands in protest when Buffy glared at her yet again.

"What? I didn't teach her that, I swear! She's just a comic genius is all," she snickered, ruffling Callie's hair affectionately. "Atta girl, Callie."

Callie looked confused but unbothered; she was quite used to the behavior of her mothers by now. Buffy, finishing up at last, said hurriedly, "Here, Callie, you're all done now…let's go look in Mommy and Mama's mirror and see how you look! You coming?"

"Wanna see!" Callie agreed eagerly, sliding off Faith's lap, and she ran down the hall with Buffy and Faith following their bedroom. As Buffy came to stand behind her, watching her look at her reflection in the mirror, she had to smile. In her little black dress, pointed hat, and the goopy green makeup smeared across her face, speckled with fake warts, Callie was meant to look like te mean, ugly witch from the Wizard of Oz she had become enamored with lately. But her round, dimply face, chin length blonde hair, and bright brown eyes paired with her small solid body couldn't make her seem anything but adorable.

Buffy and Faith smiled at each other, their earlier snipping momentarily forgotten as they admired their daughter, and Faith asked her lightly, resting her hand against her back, "What do you think, Cal, how do you look?"

"Kewwl," Callie proclaimed with a grin, using and lisping through one of Faith's favorite words. She poked at a fake wart, which promptly fell off. Faith smirked as she looked up at Buffy, who sighed, exasperated that her efforts had probably been wasted.

"Hey B…didn't think about it until now, and it's not like I care…but Willow is totally gonna hate her costume," she grinned, as Callie spun around and ran excitedly down the hall.

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A few hours later they stumbled through the front door of their house, with Faith carrying Callie. The child was asleep, her body limp and heavy against her mother, her head on Faith's shoulder. It had been an interesting evening, and the kid was wiped.

Callie had definitely enjoyed running around getting candy and being told how cute she was, but her night had not been without its share of minor upsets. Callie had managed to pick off all her fake warts by the time the night was over, and she had fallen and skinned her knee on the sidewalk, spilling her candy everywhere. Instead of crying, however, she had gotten mad and banged her plastic pumpkin against the ground. Callie wasn't a pouter, even though she was only a toddler; she didn't usually whine or cry, but instead struck out at whatever hurt or upset her. Definitely Faith's child… but Buffy worried about that particular tendency of hers sometimes.

A man dressed as a murder victim on his front porch had also deliberately scared Callie, much to the wrath of her parents. It had taken considerable effort on Buffy's part not to just let Faith beat on him, and as it was she had delivered quite scary threats. After all of this, Callie had been too tired to even eat the candy she had collected. Of course, Buffy and Faith wouldn't let her have more than ten pieces or so anyway. She was too young to have a lot of candy, and they had to be a good parent, not letting her get cavities.

Well, that was most of the reason anyway…

There hadn't been any vampires or demons out all night, not that they had expected there to be- there never was on Halloween. All in all, even with the little incidents, the night had been fun, and Faith, even as she lay Callie down in her toddler bed, was already planning for next year.

"Callie should be, like, Poison Ivy, and I could be Catwoman, and you could be Batgirl. Wouldn't that be wicked?"

Buffy smiled as she pulled the covers over Callie, smoothing her hand down her head as she held the witch hat in her hand. She didn't bother dampening Faith's enthusiasm with protests- yet, anyway. Sometimes she thought the other woman was more of a child than Callie…but that was okay, she still loved her.

Even if she did insist on letting every preteen boy and trick or treating father ogle her in that stupid Wonder Woman outfit.


	20. Bedtime rituals

Story 19: Bedtime ritual

"MOMMY! MAMA! MOMMY, MAMA!"

Under a tangle of sheets and blankets, Faith and Buffy jerked apart from each other, hearts thudding in their chests, their breath quickening as they remained close to each other, eyes hurrying to regard their closed bedroom door. They half expected Callie to fling it open, jumping right in between them in the bed- it wasn't like the behavior would be out of character for the four-year-old to do. Shy, timid, and respectful of her parents' privacy were not words that in any way described Callie Summers-Lehane.

"B, you locked the door, right?" Faith said somewhat raspily, her hand still splayed across Buffy's left breast, her face only inches away as her eyes flitted between Buffy's and the doorknob. "No repeats of the shower scenario from last week?"

"Of course I did," Buffy replied, shuddering at the memory. One hand was wound into Faith's long, thick hair, the other curved around her waist. "Incidents of that sort will NEVER happen again."

They were referring to the time only last week, when Callie had, yet again, supposedly been sleeping. Faith and Buffy had taken the opportunity to take a shower together. They had been getting rather "intimate" with their "cleaning" when their daughter flung the door open, announcing that she couldn't sleep. Looking straight at Buffy, she had asked her if she wasn't old enough to wash her own self yet.

Needless to say, both women had been horrified, even though later, when the shock had worn off, Faith had laughed until she had cried when she remembered Callie's critical remark and the way she had looked so nonplussed, standing with her hands on her hips in unconscious imitation of Buffy. Buffy had never recovered to the point where she found it so amusing.

"MOMMY! MAMA!" Callie yelled again, and the women sighed simultaneously, Buffy half closing her eyes. Callie was so frustrating with the way she did this lately.

At four years old, Callie had suddenly began to protest not only going to sleep, but also staying in her room alone at night. She was using all the usual tricks- wanting a glass of water, needing to go to the bathroom, being too hot or too cold or not tired. Everyone they had mentioned this to seemed to think that this was normal and that Callie would outgrow it…but meanwhile she was constantly disrupting any chance they had of a sex life.

"Thought this was supposed to be over with once she wasn't a baby anymore," Faith muttered as Buffy pulled away from her slightly, sitting up more fully, and Buffy rolled her eyes in commiseration as she called back to their daughter finally.

"What is it, Callie?"

"I can't sleep!" Callie shouted back, and Faith scowled, her shouted response not very good at hiding her exasperation.

"That's because you're not closing your eyes and being quiet!"

"I don't wanna! I'm not tired! I'm not goin' to sleep if I'm not tired!" Callie yelled again, and Buffy too now strove to conceal her frustration as she yelled back at her again.

"Well, if you don't' sleep now, you'll be tired tomorrow, so go to sleep anyway, Callie, okay?"

"I can't! I don't wanna!"

"We're not discussing this, Callie," Buffy called back, an edge still obvious in her tone, jaw tightening slightly. "Lay down and go to sleep, now."

There was no immediate response from Callie, so Buffy settled back against Faith, leaning her head against hers and sighing. Faith was still scowling, even as Buffy wrapped an arm around her waist.

"Do we seriously have to send her to Xander or Giles every time we want sex? Do we have to make a freakin' SCHEDULE?"

"This won't last forever," Buffy replied, her voice more hopeful than fully positive. "Once she's fifteen or so she'll be trying to sneak out instead of wanting us right there all the time…she'll be happy to leave us alone at night then."

"You do realize that the time it will take her to turn fifteen is practically half our lifetimes, right?" Faith muttered, and Buffy smiled, slowly running her fingers up and down her side.

"Somehow we'll get there."

She tilted her head to kiss Faith…but as soon as Faith started to respond, they heard their doorknob rattle, and small fists pounded on the door.

"Mommy! Mama! How come you locked it?"

Jumping once more, both scowling now, Faith called back with very little patience.

"Callie, go back to bed!"

"I can't…there's shadows, and I don't like it…Mommy, Mama, let me in!"

The little girl pounded on the door again, even more insistently this time, and Faith got up with a low growl, grabbing the oversized shirt on the floor and slipping it on before going to open the door. Their daughter stood there in her green and yellow pajamas, her blonde hair tousled about her face, eyebrows slanted downward in a worried expression even as her mouth pouted stubbornly. Seeing Faith, she hugged her legs; Faith peeled her away gently but firmly, holding her back by her shoulders.

"Callie. You're gonna go back to your room and go to sleep, it's time for bed."

"I CAN'T…there's shadows everywhere…I can't sleep, I don't like it," Callie protested, trying to hug Faith's legs again, and Buffy sighed as she spoke to Faith pointedly.

"I told you not to tell her Slayer stories before bed."

"She asked for them, she was liking them!" Faith said defensively, and Callie looked up at her still embracing her legs, warming up to the subject.

"I don't wanna go to sleep, a vampire might get me!"

"Not if you don't' tell them to come in, remember?" Buffy told her from the bed. "Didn't Mama tell you that part of the story?"

"I wanna sleep with you," Callie said persistently, tugging at Faith's arm as she looked first at her, then Buffy, with wide, earnest, and faintly manipulative eyes. "Can I sleep with you?"

As Buffy met Faith's eyes, silently asking, Faith immediately and vehemently shook her head.

"No. Nuh-uh, no way…no. Look, Cal, I'll go in your room and lay down with you until you go to sleep, okay…but you have to stay in your room if I do that. No getting up!"

"Okay," Callie said a little reluctantly, considering this, and turning her around, one hand on her back, Faith started down the hall with her to Callie's room. Watching them go with part amusement, part relief, Buffy lay back again, allowing her mind to drift off into idleness.

That is, until about ten minutes later, when her daughter appeared once more in the doorway, standing there with her hands on her hips looking no more tired than she had previously.

"Callie Joyce, why aren't you in your room with Mama?" she asked sternly, sitting back up, and Callie shrugged in a purely Faith-like way in response.

"Mama fell asleep in my bed. Can I sleep in your bed now?"

Buffy sighed, wondering briefly if she should escort Callie back to her room yet again and wake Faith up. But general laziness and amusement at the thought of Faith's face when she woke up alone in Callie's bed won out, and she beckoned for her daughter to come to her. Eleven years had to go by pretty fast, right?


	21. Traumatic experience

Story 21: Traumatic experience

"So you be a good girl and go to sleep, Callie, and when you wake up, the Easter bunny will have come and left you a little basket with candy, just like last year. Remember?" Buffy smiled down at her daughter as she sat on the edge of the bed, looking into the child's sleepy brown eyes. "You've been a good girl this year, so you'll get chocolate and Peeps and plastic eggs with little surprises, won't you? And a nice basket with grass…and you'll get to dress up and look so pretty-"

"Don't wanna dress up," Callie muttered, her voice soft but insistent, even as her eyes half closed. Buffy smoothed a hand over her soft blonde hair, glossing over that quickly.

"Well, we'll see."

What she meant was that she would try her hardest to get Callie into her new little Easter dress, but that her knowing her daughter and her disdain for such things, she would publically go naked until she let her wear pants. Faith really was such a bad influence sometimes. Well, at least Faith had stopped walking around the house naked once Callie was old enough to start asking her what all her body parts were called, but obviously she hadn't stopped soon enough, because the three-year-old stripped rather frequently now.

"Anyway," Buffy said quickly, diverting the child's attention before thoughts of dressing up for Easter could snatch all sleepiness away from her and cause her to sit up and start arguing. "You'll get all kinds of good things from the Easter bunny, and you'll get to go hunt for Easter eggs on the playground with other kids. Tomorrow will be lots of fun."

"Yeah…" Callie murmured, her eyes closing, and Buffy kissed her forehead, smiling as the child already began her descent into sleep. "Night mommy…"

"Good night, baby," Buffy replied, and she waited until Callie's eyes were fully closed before backing out of the room. It was her turn to put her to bed tonight while Faith patrolled, and as she waited for the other Slayer to return, she began to arrange the eggs she had dyed with Callie earlier on the table. After fifteen minutes she went to stick her head into Callie's room to check on her. Seeing that the little girl was asleep, breathing evenly, she returned to the living room and began to set up the "scene" for the next morning.

"B, what the hell are you doing?"

Buffy looked up at the sound of Faith's voice, from where the other woman was standing in the doorway, staring at her. She had a scrape on one cheek and her tank top was grass stained, but other than that she looked none the worse for the wear.

"Setting up Callie's Easter basket, obviously," Buffy replied. "Don't worry, I have one for you too, but I'm not putting it out right now. You'd eat everything in fifteen minutes."

"No, I mean what's with the grass trail starting at the doorway, leading to the basket, and then circling back to the door again?" Faith gestured, rolling her eyes. "That's REAL grass, B, is this supposed to be more decoration? Did you run out of the fake kind?"

"No, this is just part of the setup," Buffy explained, as if it were very expected that she would do such a thing. "This way Callie will really think the Easter bunny came. It's like he had grass on his feet and tracked it in, see? He left tracks."

Still standing in the doorway without shutting it, Faith just gawked at her for several seconds before shaking her head, giving a sharp laugh of disbelief.

"Oh god B, you SERIOUS? First you spend all week getting her to color pictures of eggs and bunnies and chickens…then you dye Easter eggs with her, even though she just spilled dye everywhere and splashed it out of the cups every time she dropped an egg in and broke like six of the eggs…and now you're going out of your way to convince her there's a real Easter bunny? You're planting fake evidence of an Easter bunny?!"

"Well, yeah, why not?" Buffy said a little defensively, standing up. "Close the door, Faith. And yeah, I am. She only gets to be little for so long, why not let her have fun?"

"Because you're totally lying to her about something stupid?" Faith replied as she shut the door, coming over to Buffy and rolling her eyes again at the grass trail. "You're gonna confuse her. If you lie to her about THIS being real when it's not, she might not believe that demons or vampires or something aren't real later, and she might end up getting hurt."

"She's not going to do that. I believed in the Easter bunny and Santa as a kid, it was just a fun thing," Buffy argued as she looked over her arrangements, making sure Faith hadn't messed them up.

"Yeah, well, I never did, and I think that's better," Faith shrugged. "That way you're never disappointed. Come on, it's stupid. A giant rabbit hopping around giving out chocolate, how freakin' ridiculous is that?"

"I think you're jealous," Buffy smirked, pulling at the end of Faith's hair as she turned toward the kitchen. "So what do you want first- food, shower, or bedroom?"

"Oh, what a decision," Faith smirked as she grabbed Buffy's wrist and pulled her close, turning her toward the hallway. "Wanna help me make up my mind…"

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A few hours later they froze, both hearing the distinct sound of rather odd footsteps from outside the house. Their eyes held each other's quickly, and they immediately jumped up, pushing aside the curtain of the bedroom window.

What they saw outside it make both women freeze, sharp gasps escaping, and Faith's mouth dropped…there was a rabbit, moving steadily towards their front door. Not any ordinary small wild rabbit, but a huge rabbit as tall as either of them, hopping not on all fours, but on its two large hind feet.

"No…no fuckin' way, NO," Faith said in total disbelief, blinking rapidly, her voice strained as her face paled. "No WAY…I'm crazy. I'm seeing things. Acid trip…or something…no WAY…"

"It's the Easter bunny!" Buffy squealed, her eyes wide, excitement quickly flooding her features. "Faith, it's the Easter bunny! He's real! He's actually real, I KNEW it!"

"How the fuck did you know it, you buy our candy every year!" Faith sputtered, rapidly shaking her head. "No way! What the fuck, is this a joke?! It's a costume!"

"No it's not, you saw it, you KNOW it wasn't!" Buffy said in shrill near joy, almost dancing before the window as her eyes remained glued on the rabbit. "That is NOT a costume, there's really an Easter bunny, he's really here! Come on Faith, let's go let him in!"

She tore through the house toward the front door, leaving Faith skulking after her much more slowly, scowling as she called out angrily. "If his ass is real, then why the hell didn't he leave me a basket ever when I was a kid?"

"I still don't believe in the fuckin' Easter bunny, no way is that real," Faith was still griping to herself as she entered the living room, just as Buffy was unlocking the front door. "Just NO, it doesn't' exist, it doesn't-"

"Faith, come on, it's a giant rabbit on its hind legs, here the night before Easter! What else would it be?" Buffy exclaimed, turning her head toward the brunette briefly.

"It doesn't even have baskets!" Faith shot back, coming up behind Buffy and still scowling darkly as she crossed her arms. "If it's the Easter bunny, where the hell is all its Easter bunny stuff?"

"Well, maybe it makes them appear magically, I don't know," Buffy shrugged carelessly before opening the door and calling out. "Hi Mr. Easter Bunny! Come on in- I'm Buffy, and this is Faith. But you probably know that, right, since you're the Easter bunny and all…should I call you Mr. Easter Bunny, or something else? You ARE a Mr, right…"

The rabbit-like figure continued to hop down their driveway, finally reaching their front porch. Faith continued to half sulk, half scowl behind Buffy, again muttering to herself.

"It's not an Easter bunny, it's-"

As the figure came to the front door, standing face to face with them while Buffy grinned, exuberant, its face suddenly changed. Opening its mouth, sharp red teeth emerged, and its eyes turned red. Buffy's eyes bulged, and she froze, just as Faith too did a double take, her voice lowering as she finished her sentence.

"Something else…"

As the large rabbit snarled, leaping forward, Faith kicked it hard in the stomach. Maybe it was a good thing she'd been starting to have some pent-up aggression toward the thing….

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Five minutes and eighteen blows to the neck, head, and crotch later, along with a timely decapitation and a frantic phone call to Giles, Buffy and Faith stared down at the rabbit hanging half in their doorway. It was not, as Buffy had feared, an Easter bunny who was possessed, but rather Malik, a demon attracted to small children. The irony of a demonic rabbit coming to their house the day before Easter to eat their daughter was staggering, but then, this was their life.

"This..is still kinda strange," Buffy muttered, shaking her head. "Disturbing."

"Aw, you're upset to have another childhood fantasy blown," Faith teased, draping an arm around her. In contrast to Buffy's disappointed, slightly pouty demeanor, she was smiling, almost cheery. "Be glad about it, I probably would have killed it even if it were the real bunny for ignoring me all my life."

"Yeah…guess we should get rid of it," Buffy said, leaning into her. "In case-"

"MOMMY! MAMA! YOU KILLED THE EASTER BUNNY?!"

"…in case Callie wakes up and sees it," Buffy finished in horror, as their daughter, standing behind them, burst into tears. This would be one long night.


	22. School

Story 22: School

"Callie, be careful, and safe, and, and be good," Buffy said hurriedly, her voice fretful, her face pinched with anxiety, eyes wide as she tried to think of everything she wanted to be sure to say to her daughter. She held Callie's hand tightly as she looked down at her seriously, instructing her. "And listen to all the rules…unless you're in danger, or someone else is. Or unless the teacher is evil. God, I hope the teacher's not evil…"

"All teachers are evil," Faith interjected as she shifted her weight impatiently, standing beside Buffy and their daughter and crossing her arms. It was obvious to Buffy that she wasn't taking this day nearly as seriously as she should, and Buffy ignored her, continuing to address Callie earnestly.

"We taught you how to tell if a teacher is a ghost, remember? Or a vampire…or a zombie…or a worshipper of ancient gods…or a praying mantis or a mummy…you know, right? You remember how to tell?"

"YES, Mommy," Callie said with heavy exasperation in her tone, rolling her eyes in a distinctly Faith-like attitude that only deepened the brunette's smirk. Callie was five years old, and this was her first day of kindergarten…but judging from her attitude, you would have thought school was a very unexciting and ordinary thing for her, something that she'd been taking part in for years.

She was wearing old jeans and her favorite old red shirt, despite Buffy's attempt to get her into something new and cute for her first day of school. Again, the little girl had adamantly insisted on having her way, and her way usually did not include wearing frilly dresses or even girly, feminine shirts or skirts. If it wasn't for the blonde hair, Buffy would have wondered sometimes if Callie was really her child at all, or if she had just sprung directly from Faith and Faith alone.

"Remember, Callie, if anyone dies, or if you see anything weird or scary, call us," Buffy continued, undaunted by her lover's and daughter's responses. "You know how to use the cell phone I gave you, right?"

"Uh, I think so," Callie replied, and Buffy's eyes widened further, her grip on the child's hand tightening a she looked down at her sharply.

"What do you mean, you think so? Do you remember how, Callie? It's very important that you remember how! It's very-"

"Yes, yes, I remember! Now can I go inside?" Callie burst out with as she turned toward the school's door, looking at it longingly. She was obviously anxious to go inside, maybe to get away from her parents. But Buffy wasn't quite finished yet, and she didn't relinquish her grip on the little girl.

"And don't hit or push people, Callie…and don't talk about Mommy or Mama and their real jobs, people might not understand. And wash your hands after using the bathroom…oh, and put toilet paper on the seat before you sit down. And-"

"B, chill…jeez, she's not gonna live there, we'll see her this afternoon," Faith cut her off, rolling her eyes just as her daughter had. "She'll be fine, won't you, Cal?"

"Uh huh," Callie said quickly, sensing an ally. "Can I go in now?"

"I know…" Buffy bit her lip. Her voice was hoarse, and she was blinking back tears but trying not to show it. She could only imagine how embarrassed and impatient Callie would be with that, and how amusing Faith would find it. "It's just, you're so big now, honey…you're growing up, and I just-"

Knowing she wouldn't be able to finish the sentence without crying, Buffy pulled Callie into a hug, holding her tightly. The little girl squirmed, her eyes moving around uneasily- no doubt afraid someone might see. Buffy heard Faith snicker but ignored her. She couldn't help it if the woman had no heart when it came to dropping off their baby for her first day of school.

"Mommy…can I go now?"

"You're just like your mama," Buffy muttered, but she was able to laugh a little, blinking back tears as she released her, kissing her on the cheek. Callie was already turning toward the door when Faith gave her a quick one-armed hug and ruffled her hair.

"See ya, Cal…knock 'em dead."

"Not literally, though!" Buffy called out quickly as Callie practically ran to the door, lest her mother change her mind and tell her to come back.

"You sure you don't want me to walk you to class?" Buffy called, her voice cracking slightly, and Callie didn't even look back, already through the door as she replied.

"Yes, I'm sure, Mommy! Bye Mommy, bye Mama!"

"Cool kids don't have their moms walk them to class, B, get with it," Faith smirked. Buffy didn't look at her; she was too busy trying not to cry to respond. Faith slipped an arm around her shoulders as she started to walk her back to the car, kissing the side of her head and giving her another squeeze before opening the passenger door for her and going around to the driver's side, slipping behind the wheel and starting up the car.

"She'll be alright. She's excited. Give her a few days and she'll realize there's nothing to be excited about, so be glad for her now."

"Faith, she's so BIG now," Buffy sighed, slumping back against the seat as the brunette backed up. "She's up to my ribcage. Five years old and up to my ribcage! Don't give me wisecracks either about how short I am either, you're only two or three inches taller, that isn't exactly statuesque. Which means tall before you ask…I think. I heard Dawn say it, and if I asked her what she meant she'd think I was stupid. But yeah, I think she's going to be as tall as me by the time she's ten, and that's just scary. God…I don't even want to think about her becoming a Slayer…that's only in ten years at the most, do you realize that? Only ten years, and probably way sooner!"

"Mm," Faith grunted, her eyes carefully on the road, but Buffy didn't' notice, carrying on with empathic gestures.

"FIVE…she already lost a tooth last week. She's going to learn to read…and then before you know it she'll be dating. Dating BOYS. Or, or girls, whichever…but Callie is going to be DATING, do you realize that?"

"Mm," Faith muttered again, and again, Buffy barely noticed her response.

"Damn, we're getting old, Faith! You're 26 now…and I'm 28…28!!! That's almost thirty! We're the oldest Slayers that ever lived! And Xander's married and Willow and Kennedy might as well be, and Giles is REALLY old, and even Dawn can legally drink…god, how did this happen?"

"Mm," Faith repeated, the noise noticeably strained this time, but Buffy was so caught up in her monologue that she didn't' even glance towards her.

"Did you see how she didn't even cry? Callie's just like you, I swear. What kind of kid doesn't even cry or get worried on her first day of school? My teacher had to pry me off my mom's leg…I swear, she NEVER cries. Who would have thought it, it seemed like she was always crying as a baby. Did you cry much as a kid, Faith? Ha, of course not, stupid question, this is you we're talking about…hey Faith? FAITH?"

Her voice rose slightly, stunned, as she finally glanced over. Her eyes widened, and she spoke with incredulous dismay.

"Faith, are you CRYING?"

"NO," Faith said fiercely, glaring, hands tightening around the wheel as she stared straight ahead, denying the tell-tale tracks on her cheeks. "Dust in my eye. Happens. Leave it alone."

Buffy gawked at her for a moment, still shocked, and then smiled slowly, shaking her head as she reached to cover and squeeze Faith's hand on the steering wheel.

"I love you, baby."

"I'm watching the road," Faith muttered, but Buffy's heard her take a slow breath, and her hand shifted slightly on the wheel to squeeze back.


	23. Parent teacher conference

Story 22: Parent teacher conference

"Faith, I SWEAR if this is over anything she did that came about because you taught it to her…" Buffy said in a low but intense voice close to the other woman's ear as they walked together toward Callie's kindergarten classroom. The elementary school hallway was brightly lit but empty, the children having all gone now, and Buffy, despite her slight anxiety, found herself to be glancing around, their colorful schoolwork hung on the walls catching her eye.

"She says she didn't do anything wrong," Faith shrugged, rolling her eyes as she continued with Buffy down the hall. "They probably call all the parents in for conferences at some point during the year. It's probably, like, a rule or something."

"It's been less than a month that she's been in school, Faith," Buffy pointed out. "And as for Callie saying she didn't do anything bad, she also said she didn't write her name on the wall in three inch high letters, remember? And even if she thinks she's being honest, Callie's idea of bad and kindergarten teacher's probably don't exactly match up with each other's."

"Whatever," Faith muttered, rolling her eyes again. "Callie's not bad. She's just smarter than everyone else in the place, probably, and they don't know how to deal with it. They're such dictators in school anyway, all the rules they have that have nothing to do with real life. 'Raise your hand to talk,' 'be quiet in the halls,' 'ask to use the bathroom,' blah blah blah, stupid. She's a kid and she's gonna be a Slayer- what, do they expect her to bend to authority? A kid of OURS? I'd be disappointed."

"Shh!" Buffy hissed, poking Faith in the side and looking around anxiously to make sure no one had heard. "Stop using the slay word in public, Faith, how many times to I have to tell you?"

Faith rolled her eyes for a third time, and to her own consternation, Buffy felt a very Mom-ish urge to tell her they'd freeze that way if she didn't watch it. "Whatever, B. I hope they don't make us sit in the midget chairs again…what do they do if a really fat person comes in? Make them choose between breaking a chair or sitting on the floor?"

But of course, it was indeed midget chairs they were offered. As Mrs. Gellar, Callie's teacher, came forward with her hand held out, smiling, they noticed that this time around she seemed quite determined to appear not to notice that they were both women. The first time she had ever met Faith and Buffy one on one she had been startled when they both introduced themselves as Callie's mother. She had looked them both over quickly, then at Callie, seeming to be struggling with the obvious physical similarities Callie shared with both. Buffy had found this somewhat amusing, particularly that someone in California could still be startled by any sort of family or how it had come about, but Faith had surprisingly been defensive over it. Even now as Mrs. Gellar shook her hand she was looking at her with barely veiled wariness, squeezing her hand just a shade harder than she normally would with another woman. Mrs. Gellar winced.

"Ms. Summers, Ms. Lehane, it's good to see you again," she began when both were attempting to somewhat comfortably situate themselves in their child-sized chairs, Faith squirming noticeably. "I hope you're well?"

"We're fine, thanks," Buffy smiled, and to her annoyance, Faith exchanged no such pleasantries before jumping to the point.

"So what's with this conference…what did Callie do? Is she not listening, having problems with something you're teaching, what?"

"Oh, well, no, nothing like that," Mrs. Gellar said with the same slightly overdone smile, shaking her head. Buffy gave a pointed look to Faith to indicate for her to be more polite, and Faith, being Faith, either ignored this or didn't notice. "No, Callie is having no problems at all with schoolwork, she's a very bright child. Though she does tend to get a bit distracted from her work at times."

Faith actually looked pleased by this, and Buffy knew what she was thinking. Her child was smart, but not a nerd, exactly the combo Faith had hoped for. Sometimes Buffy swore the woman had a complex with her pride over Callie being so "tough" and "cool."

"And she's usually not a problem as far as her behavior goes…although sometimes her words don't' quite keep up with her fists in settling disputes, which has in fact been a problem, as you know," Mrs. Gellar added, looking between them meaningfully. "But I didn't call you in over Callie's problem solving skills today. I thought we should talk about…more recent occurrences."

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked quickly, glancing at Faith again, and Faith shifted, frowning.

"Well," Mrs. Gellar began, and she looked between the women with her eyes hesitant, her voice very careful. "I'm just a little concerned…I know children often make up stories or imagine things at this age…but with Callie it seems…well, very frequent in comparison to other children. At first I didn't pay much attention to her talk about monsters and witches and the like…but lately…well, for instance, we read a book to the children about a vampire the other day, since it's close to Halloween. Not a scary one, of course," she added quickly, as if afraid Buffy and Faith would be appalled, and the women smirked at each other. "Just a humorous little poem, really. But Callie…she told the class that her uncle was a vampire…a vampire and an angel."

At that Faith and Buffy couldn't look at each other. It was hard enough as it was not to burst out laughing. Mistaking their expressions for ones of grave seriousness and distress, Mrs. Gellar nodded, continuing solemnly.

"During the story, Callie also interrupted to correct me several times. She said that vampires don't' hate garlic, don't sleep in coffins, and don't turn into bats…and also that she knew this because she's seen vampires before. She said the two of you…well, kill them…and she was quite insistent on talking about it even when I tried to change the subjects."

DAMMIT, Buffy thought in more embarrassment than horror or dread, lowering her head slightly. Callie always did hate to lose an argument…

Faith was practically openly smirking as she said in an overly interested tone, "She watches a lot of TV…cable, you know."

"Yes, well…I'm not judging, of course, and it is your business…but perhaps you could monitor more closely what she watches?" Mrs. Gellar suggested hesitantly. She produced from a stack of papers on her desk a child's colorful picture, handing it to them to scrutinize and still eyeing them seriously. "I thought you should look at this…Callie drew this during art the other day."

As Buffy and Faith bent their heads over their daughter's work, their eyes widened. She had clearly put a lot of thought and effort into this… there were two figures, standing, a blonde woman and a brunette, with a blonde smaller figure in between, all holding what looked like sticks in their hands. There was a man with glasses, a man with dark scribbled hair standing next to a blonde woman, and another dark-haired woman with a red-headed woman wearing what looked like a pointy witch's hat. There was a section in the corner with a black man, two dark-haired men, and two dark haired women drawn…only one of the men had pointy white teeth coming out of his U-shaped mouth. And then there was the green, red-eyed man too…

As Faith and Buffy stared, Mrs. Gellar said gravely, "She says it's her family portrait."

At that, Buffy and Faith couldn't help it; they burst into hysterical laughter.


	24. Sibling revelry

Sibling revelry

"Mama, I think you need to have another baby," proclaimed Callie through a mouthful of Pop-Tart, swinging her legs restlessly as she looked between her two mothers.

Across from her at the table, Faith choked on her barely-chewed mouthful of Coco Puffs, brown-tinged milk dribbling down her chin and into her cereal bowl as she started to cough, her eyes widening. From where she stood in front of the pantry, Buffy gasped, dropping the box of Cheerios she had been in the process of extracting. Their seven-year-old daughter scrunched up her nose, making an expression of total disgust as she edged back into her chair, away from the spectacle that Faith and her cereal were making.

"Ew! Mama, that is so gross!"

"What the…where the hell..ECK…did you come up with THAT?!" Faith sputtered, wiping her mouth and chin with the back of her hand as she hastily attempted to camouflage her emerging swear word. The shock and horror on her face was even less successfully concealed as she gawked at the blonde child before her. Buffy too quickly came over to sit in the chair beside her daughter, now recovered enough to find Callie's declaration, particularly because it was Faith that she had been addressing, almost- ALMOST- funny, and she smiled, knowing Faith was gawking too hard at Callie to notice and get mad.

"Helleck?" Callie repeated, rather than giving a straight answer, her eyes narrowing at Faith's suspiciously. "That's not a word, Mama. You were gonna say a bad word, weren't you?"

"No," Faith said quickly, shaking her head, and Buffy smirked. Not only had it been very obvious, but the guilty glint in her eyes gave her away. "I was not!"

"Mommy, she was too, wasn't she?" Callie turned to appeal to Buffy, and Buffy nodded as she turned to raise an eyebrow at Faith.

"You know the rules…one swear equals one dollar if Callie hears it. Pay up, Faith."

She hoped that Callie's victory here would distract her entirely from pursuing the whole baby scenario any further. Apparently Faith was hoping the same, for she protested quickly.

"I'm not paying, helleck is a word!"

"Is not," Callie countered, scowling at her as she set down her Pop-Tart, turning her body more fully towards Faith as her dark brown eyes narrowed at her again. "You owe me a dollar, Mama!"

Faith rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath- a little forcedly, Buffy thought, but also partly with real reluctance as she dug a dollar bill from her pocket, thrusting it at Callie, who immediately dimpled as she fingered her newest earnings. "Might as well hand you a ten so the rest of my day is covered," Faith muttered.

"Okay!" Callie smiled, taking this at face value, and Buffy laughed, until the little girl returned to the question at hand, looking between her mothers. "So you gonna have a baby then, Mama?"

Faith's smirk disappeared rapidly, and her eyes widened again as she shook her head so violently Buffy wondered how she had managed not to strain something.

"What? No! No, I'm not having a baby, we don't want a baby, do we, B? Besides, even if we did, it's Buffy's turn to have the kid!"

"What? No it's not," Buffy protested quickly, shaking her head with a panicked expression mirroring Faith's coming over her face before she turned to Callie, forcing a smile. "Um…well, no one's having a baby, Callie. We're happy with just you."

She was hoping that would be enough to satisfy Callie. She should have known it wouldn't be for someone who was a direct descendant of Faith Lehane, of course.

"Well then you'll be even more happy with another daughter then," Callie declared, crossing her arms. "I want a sister."

"Well, you'll have sister Slayers when you're older," Buffy tried next, trying hard not to look at Faith. Flashbacks of Faith's pregnancy with Callie were coming to her mind, and the very thought of surviving a round two of this with Faith- or going through the insanity she had witnessed herself, with her own body- left her barely able to keep a tinge of panic out of her eyes and voice. From the sudden lack of color in Faith's pallor, it looked like the other woman was having similar thoughts.

"That doesn't count," Callie scoffed, rolling her eyes, as if the stupidity of her parents simply staggered her mind. Looking at her sitting there, all of 3'10" and fifty pounds at seven years old, Buffy didn't even want to think about the teenage years that still lurked somewhere in the future. "I don't' want a sister to KISS, I just want a sister to play with."

Faith snorted at that, meeting Buffy's eyes with her full lips twisting in amusement, and Buffy had to admit that the kid seemed to have a point. Between her mothers, Kennedy, Vi, and pretty much most Slayers she had met, girls who were Slayers seemed to have at least a tendency towards bisexuality. Their amusement was quickly ended, however, as usual, when Callie continued to clarify herself and her wants.

"So you should go have sex."

Although neither had any food in their mouths at the time, both women choked again, eyes bulging as they turned towards their daughter sharply, their mouths open wide. Callie just waited, seeming blind to the scandalized expressions and rising blood pressure of her mothers as she continued to swing her legs.

"What?!" both women cried out in unison, and Callie replied with some impatience, "So you can get me a sister. You know. You should have sex."

Faith's ears turned bright red, and the spoon she was holding in her shaking hand broke. Buffy blinked several times, her voice rising shrilly even as she attempted to stay calm.

"Callie…do you…you know what sex is?"

"Yeah, it's what you gotta do to have babies," the little girl said dismissively. "So you gonna go have sex now?"

Oh god, Buffy thought to herself as she lowered her head, feeling heat flood across her cheeks, humiliated horror pressing at her chest. My daughter is Faith. My daughter is seven years old, and she's already totally, completely Faith. OH MY GOD WHAT HAPPENS WHEN SHE'S A TEENAGER?!

"Who the hell have you been talking to?!" Faith yelped, and Callie pointed at her, half accusing, half gleeful.

"Mama, you said a bad word again!"

Faith dug a ten dollar bill out of her pocket and shoved it at Callie, her face clouding over in a dangerous manner that never failed to intimidate- anyone but her daughter, that is, who looked right back at her without flinching.

"There you go, Cal, now I can say whatever the hell I want. Now who the hell have you been talking to, and what the hell have they been saying about sex?!"

Callie counted on her fingers intently for a moment. "You got six more bad words left, Mama, and then you gotta pay more."

At the look on Faith's face at that reply, Buffy figured she better calm things down a little before the other woman got up and started looking for Callie's sex ed instructor herself.

"Callie, answer your mother, who told you?"

"Dustin," Callie replied, impatient, naming one of her friends in her second grade class. "His brother told him you have to have sex to have babies. Whatever that means. So you should go have sex so we can have babies."

Buffy's shoulders sagged, and across from her Faith exhaled, taking a slow breath in. She didn't know whether to be relieved that Callie didn't seem to know exactly what detailed sex, or just horrified that she was commanding her mothers to have it- possibly, in Callie's mind, where she could witness it to make sure they didn't cheat her in their efforts to earn her a sister. Oh god, bad thought, AWFUL thought, stop, stop, stop!

"Dustin, I'm gonna kill that kid," Faith muttered, scowling, her eyebrows knitting sharply, and Buffy quickly attempted to distract both her and her own thoughts.

"Uh, Callie, he was just talking about moms and dads…two moms can't have babies like that…so we can't. Okay?"

Too late she realized that these words opened the door to way too many questions she really, really didn't want to answer. As Faith glared at her menacingly across the table, Callie took the opportunity to do so.

"Why not? Can't you guys have sex?"

"Fucking hell," Faith hissed, ducking her head, but Callie caught her words all the same.

"That was a REALLY bad word, Mama! That should count as two, so you only got three left now! And you didn't answer. You must have had sex, or else how would you have had me if that's how babies are made?"

"Magic," Buffy replied immediately and truthfully, relieved, but Callie rolled her eyes.

"I'm not a baby, Mommy. I know that's not how. How did you really have me?"

"You know what, why don't you call Aunt Willow and ask?" Faith said loudly, standing up and heading toward the door. "I gotta go."

Buffy hoped she wasn't on the way to track down that poor Dustin kid, though by this point, she understood the urge. Callie stood as well, sighing exaggeratedly.

"Fine, I will then!"

As she dialed the number, Buffy was tempted to listen in on the extension in the other room. She almost felt sorry for her friend and what she had in store for her…almost.


	25. Prodigal Parent

Prodigal Father

When the doorbell to her home rang on Sunday morning, Buffy called out to Faith from the kitchen that she would get it. The fact that her lover was still clad only in panties and a braless tank told her that whatever Faith's lack of inhibition, it would be a better idea for her to answer the door than the brunette. She didn't bother to look through the peephole or ask who it was. After all, it was the weekend and morning, and that likely mean anyone of the extended members of their "family" was as likely to be standing there as the rest. Even those who loved their sleep seemed willing to sacrifice lately, if it meant more time with five-month-old Callie Summers-Lehane.

"Just a sec," she called as she made her way to the door, but when she opened it a few moments later and saw whose form it was standing before her, Buffy's first thought was that she wished she had looked in the peephole after all. This was definitely something she could have used a few minutes- or more accurately, a few years- of preparation for.

The man who stood before her was older now, balding, though his collared shirt, sports jacket, and jeans looked new, expensive, and as though they had originally been designed for a man closer to Buffy's age than his. He was wearing too much cologne in such a strong odor that Buffy instinctively took a step back, not only in reaction to the situation, but also to the overpowering scent wafting towards her nostrils. He was not the man she remembered from earlier years, but he was still recognizable…this was Hank Summers at her door. This was her father.

For several moments Buffy couldn't bring herself to move. She was so thrown that she just stared at him with her eyes widening, not even sure whether she was blinking. Her words caught in her throat with her shock…and slowly emerging anger. What right did he have to come now, after all these years, to suddenly drop in on her life?! Even with this indignation, however, there was a stirring of concern. Had something happened? To who? What could possibly make him come to her with no warning after all those years?

And deep down, a very small part of her that Buffy was ashamed to admit even existed felt hope…did her father still want her? Did he still love her? Was that why he was here…was he finally trying to be the father he should have been to her?

"Hi, honey," Hank said with a quick smile that seemed to convey more hope and confidence than genuine warmth- or so it seemed in Buffy's eyes.

"Hank," Buffy said flatly in return as she found herself able to move and speak again, to cross her arms as she closely scrutinized his face. Seeing how she was watching him, Hank frowned a little, his voice carrying an edge Buffy thought it had absolutely no right to.

"Hank? What happened to Dad?"

"I stopped calling you Dad some time after you stopped acting as one," Buffy replied with narrowed eyes and a level tone, keeping her arms crossed as she continued to regard him.

Hank sighed, running his hand through his thinning hair as he shifted his eyes away from the woman who was his daughter.

"I was really hoping that it wouldn't have to be like this, Buffy."

"Well so was I, you know, back when you abandoned me five years ago, didn't help me when Mom was sick, didn't come to her funeral, and left me to raise Dawn by myself, so I would have to drop out of college and work full time at a fast food place to be able to, you know, eat," Buffy said, each word bitten off distinctly as she attempted to force Hank's gaze to meet hers again. "Yep, I was really hoping around then that things were different. But I guess we don't always get what we wish for, huh?"

Hank sighed, his shoulders sagging temporarily, and as he raised his eyes back to hers, Buffy was horrified to see that he looked to her like a teenage boy, pleading for approval or a favor, even as he attempted to calculate a way to escape blame for his behavior.

"I understand it must have been a difficult time for you, Buffy-"

"You understand?" she interrupted incredulously, her eyebrows raising high. "Like hell you understand. And what about Dawn, did you ever think maybe it would be 'difficult' for a fourteen-year-old girl to be raised by her twenty-year-old sister because her mother died and her father didn't even want her?"

"It wasn't that I didn't' want you, either of you," Hank protested, quickly shaking his head, even as he appeared to be looking past Buffy into the doorway, as though trying to think of a way to subtly ask or indicate to her that he would like to be asked inside. "It's just that sometimes in life, adults have difficult situations, and there is no perfect solution-"

"So you run off to Spain with your secretary and leave your daughters alone in the aftermath of their mother's death, trying not to get kicked out of the house because we can't pay the bills. Oh, I see, you made the moral choice, DAD. Well done," Buffy said with heavy sarcasm, her eyes boring into his with an intense scathing that did not flicker at his slight flinch and heavily displeased frown. "So where is Candy, why didn't she come along for the ride?"

"It's Mandy, Buffy," Hank corrected stiffly, as if the name sounded considerably more dignified to Buffy's ears with one letter change. "And she… she thought it would be best if she didn't come."

"Oh, so she's smarter than I figured." Buffy shifted her weight, still quite deliberately blocking the doorway. "What's she doing with you then?"

"Buffy, now that is not necessary-"

"But you coming here after all this time was? Why NOW, Dad, what are you doing here?" she said, he voice rising, feeling her nails beginning to dig into her crossed arms. There was no noise in the house behind her that she could hear; apparently Callie was still sleeping. Faith's quiet was more odd- either she had gone back to sleep too, or she was somehow listening in from somewhere. Buffy suspected it was the latter as she continued to eye the man who was her father by genetics, if not by actions.

Hank sighed again, impatience and guilt equally showing itself in his voice and features as he looked away for a few moments. "I wanted to see how you are, Buffy. You and Dawn. I missed you."

Buffy simply couldn't believe this. How did he have the nerve to say that, to do this, to be here? This man was a stranger…maybe he always had been.

"No," she said slowly, her voice taut, as her eyes bore into those of the man she had once called her father, the first man she had ever loved. "No, what you miss is being able to have your cake and eat it without getting frosting all over your hands because you're too selfish to wait to use forks. Or something. Well, I turned into cookies a long time ago, Dad, I'm all done baking. Not that you would have eaten me, because that's just wrong and gross, but you're not even in the right bakery!"

At this outburst, Hank just blinked and stared, his eyes wide. "Uh…what?"

Okay, so maybe the whole baked goods analogy hadn't been the best way to make her point with him.

"How did you find me?" Buffy asked stiffly instead, crossing her arms again, her tone not quite civil. "Sunnydale was destroyed long ago. How long did it take you to care enough to try to figure out whether Dawn and I were dead or alive?"

"Of course I cared!" Hank insisted, reaching a hand towards her, but when Buffy just looked at him, her eyes hard, maintaining a distance and still not stepping back from the door, he withdrew it with some awkward embarrassment. "I didn't even know until recently. You know I was out of the country. Once I did find out, I did all I could to find out about you. I goggled your name and Dawn's and found her enrolled at a roster here, at the college, and your name listed as the head of a school for gifted teenage girls- is that right? You're a principal of a school, Buffy?"

That would be the Slayer headquarters, but Hank Summers did not need to know that. he didn't need to know anything.

"I want you to leave again, Hank," she said quietly but meaningfully, her eyes fixed on his. "And I want you to stay away for good this time. And don't you dare go to Dawn."

"Buffy, Dawn is my daughter," Hank protested, his posture straightening as some indignation and an attempt at authority came to his tone and expression. "You do not have the right-"

"No, HANK," Buffy cut him off, her voice still pitched low, but harsher now, her eyes narrowing further. "Dawn is MY daughter now. I raised her. I'm her legal guardian. Dawn is my child as well as my sister, and you have NO say in anything she does or anything that happens to her, and you will NOT be seeing her. Believe me, if I find out that you tried, you'll be sorry."

Somewhere in the back of the house Buffy heard Callie start to cry as she awakened from her sleep, and Hank's eyes widened as he tried again to look past Buffy in the doorway.

"There's a baby in there."

"My baby," Buffy said tightly, her hand moving to grip the doorknob. "My daughter. Callie. Callie JOYCE." She watched him closely, taking some satisfaction from the guilt that flashed across his eyes, before beginning to shut the door. Callie had already stopped crying, so Faith must have gone to her. Faith must have-

"Who's this, B?" Faith asked with some curiosity, but also suspicion as she came up behind Buffy in the doorway, Callie resting on her hip, a pacifier in her mouth. Buffy, turning, kept the door partway open as she gestured somewhat violently towards Hank without facing him, almost hitting him in the face.

"This is my father, by genes, if nothing else. But he was just leaving."

Faith's eyes narrowed at this, and with Callie still held securely in one arm, she stepped towards the man menacingly, her eyebrows knitting, her face tightening into a fierce glower as she stood in direct invasion of his personal space, even going so far as to seize his shoulder and hold it in a grip that made Hank gasp, his eyes widening.

"Oh, yeah? This is him? This is the cowardly, selfish bastard who took off on you? This is the guy who let you go through your mom being sick all alone- this is the guy who couldn't raise his own kids 'cause he's rather chase a piece of ass all the way to Spain? This is him?"

She shook him hard for good measure, causing him to cry out with involuntary fear rising in his gaze as he turned his head to Buffy, almost pleading for his daughter to stop her. Buffy watched impassively, her arms folded.

"Faith, don't joggle Callie around too much. She just woke up."

"Buffy, she- who are you?" Hank sputtered to Faith, his voice rising higher as the pressure on his shoulder increased, even as Faith held the baby gently in her other arm.

She glared at him, pushing her face close, and her voice became so ominous that even Buffy grew nervous.

"I'm the mother of your granddaughter, asshole. Try to figure that one out. But you'll never know her, so I wouldn't bother," she gave him one last squeeze, until he yelped, both women hearing his shoulder pop. Faith pushed him back, backing away and taking Buffy's hand possessively in her free one as the woman spoke with as much calm as she could muster.

"Sorry about that, Hank. Faith gets pretty pissed off at people that hurt people she loves. I think you'd better go now."

Even as Hank took a step back, holding his shoulder, struggling to even out his breathing, he was staring at Faith and Buffy's joined hands, at the baby on Faith's hip, replaying the fact that both Buffy and Fait had claimed to be the child's mother.

"Buffy…you're…you're gay?" he stuttered, as if this were the most astonishing revelation of his evening of all.

"I really don't like labels," Buffy replied. "But I'm gonna give you one anyway. 'Gone.' " She shut the door in his face, and taking a deep breath, squeezed Faith's hand before taking Callie from her and turning towards the hallway.

"So I'm thinking we should go to Willow's for breakfast…think she has toaster strudels?"


	26. Changing the rules

Callie Chronicles

"Change in rules"

"AGGGH! MOMMY, MAMA, IT'S BACK! COME QUICK, I SEE IT, IT'S BACK!"

Rather than jumping up in abject alarm at the panicked shout of their five-year-old daughter and rushing into her bedroom to prevent what sounded, from her tone, like her dawning murder or mutilation, Buffy merely exhaled with a slow, long-suffering sigh, though her narrowed eyes and slightly tensed jaw conveyed none of the patience that she was struggling to maintain in the face of her daughter's seventh shout in two hours or so. The first night she had pulled this little stunt, Buffy had in fact been worried. Even the second night, she hadn't totally decided for sure that Callie was either making it all up or imagining things. But this was the third night, and Buffy and everyone else who had become involved in this little game of Callie's was sure now. Even for Slayers, using the whole "there's a monster in my closet" excuse could only be taken seriously for so long before some evidence was needed.

Faith did not show the controlled restraint of her sister Slayer; instead, she growled under her breath, teeth gritted, and rolled over in bed, savagely pulling the blankets over her head and then stuffing a pillow over top of it as well. As if either would block out their child's bellowing with her Slayer hearing. She clearly had no intention of responding to Callie's call. Buffy would have imitated her actions, except that she knew the results they would render- Callie would continue to yell at them relentlessly, her voice growing louder and louder, until she panicked herself to the point that she braved the possibility of the imaginary monster grabbing her feet to run down the hall and pound on their bedroom door. At 3:30 am, and with she and Faith wearing little more currently than their birthday suits and a scowl, this was not at all something that Buffy wanted to see carried out.

"Callie, go to sleep!" she yelled back, but her preschooler hollered immediately, urgency in her voice, "But I CAN'T, the monster's gonna get me, Mommy! The monster's gonna eat me, you gotta help me!"

A loud, huffy breath and a violent squirming beside her told Buffy what Faith thought of that statement. Sitting up, sighing loudly, Buffy looked over at her lover's huddled, totally buried form, addressing her in a very strained voice.

"I thought she stopped screaming out for us in the middle of the night after we stopped going to her that time you fell asleep in her bed. What happened?"

"You started answering and going again is what happened," Faith snapped, sounding none too pleased with her response and not budging from under her makeshift cocoon to reply. "If you just shut up and let her scream then she'd shut up too at some point, she'd have to."

"But…she might lose her voice if she keeps calling out like that…and, and she might be too scared, she might think we don't care, or that we don't love her-" Buffy started to worry out loud, wide awake with her eyes now sharply focused as the worries began to pile in.

At this statement, Faith snorted loudly, even in her very irritable state, and went so far as to laugh.

"Please, B, there's no danger of that. The kid's doing this because she knows we love her enough that she can yank on your guilt strings all she wants and you'll just feel bad if you get too pissed at her. So don't do it…shut up and go to sleep."

Faith readjusted her position under the blankets, obviously determined to ignore any further addressals aimed her way. Buffy, however, was barely paying attention and certainly was not finished with her list of anxieties in regards to Callie's claims.

"Plus, what if there really IS a monster, what if she's right? We ARE Slayers, after all, it's not exactly far-fetched…what if there is a monster and it hurts her and we didn't even believe her? What if-"

"Buffy, we searched the entire house and everywhere around it like twenty times, Gilesand Xander and Kennedy looked, and WILLOW, the world's most powerful witch, cast spells to make any demons come out of hiding, and NOTHING showed up!" Faith growled, ripping her pillow off from her head finally and glaring at Buffy with her eyebrows slanted sharply towards her nose, her hair tousled about her face. "There IS no freaking monster!"

"But…Callie said he leaves during the day-"

"Willow did the spell at night too!"

"But she said he goes away when grown ups come in the room…"

"She's full of shit, Buffy, and you're a sap…now go to sleep!" Faith covered her face with the pillow again, just as Callie called out once more.

"MAMA! MOMMY! I SEE HIS EYES GLOWING! HE'S GONNA EAT ME! I HEAR HIM BREATHING!"

"Don't even think about it," Faith snapped as Buffy bit her lip, looking with indecision towards the door, even though with her head covered she couldn't see the direction of the other woman's gaze. "We're off for the night."

"We're her parents, Faith, we can't be off," Buffy muttered, and Faith made a chuckling sound that sounded more evil than the supposed monster in Callie's room had ever attempted thus far.

"Oh hell yes we can…now SHUT UP! And if she calls out again-"

"MOMMY! MAMA! HE'S TRYING TO EAT ME!"

"WE'RE NOT GETTING UP, CALLIE JOYCE!" Faith screamed, abruptly throwing her pillow and all the blankets across the room as she jerked up in bed, causing Buffy to jump, startled at her vehemence. "THERE IS NO MONSTER, SO GO TO SLEEP BECAUSE WE ARE NOT GETTING UP OR ANSWERING AGAIN!"

"Faith!" Buffy frowned at her, not liking the harshness of her tone, but Faith was already snatching back the bedding she had thrown and flinging it over herself again. Knowing better than to reason with her in that sort of mood, Buffy took some of the blankets for herself as she sighed, lying back uneasily as Callie called back angrily.

"You're mean, Mama! I hope the monster comes and gets you…he oughtta go to YOUR room!"

"Send him on then, bring it, Mr. Monster!" Faith hollered back, and Callie yelled, "Fine, I will then!"

Silence fell for a space of perhaps two minutes, to Buffy's astonishment, as Faith remained motionless under the blankets, her breathing slowly evening out. Had she been right after all- would all this have ended days ago if they had gotten tough with Callie from the start? Well why else would she be so quiet now then if she hadn't finally realized she better stop? Damn, Buffy hated when Faith was right… but at least she could finally sleep…

Finally allowing herself to relax, Buffy lay on her side, turning towards Faith and letting her head rest against what felt like the other woman's shoulder. That was when she heard…a slow, staggery, raspy sound that was neither her breathing nor Faith's…but what sounded like something larger, something not human…something that sounded very close to them, possibly beneath them…something under their bed.

Her eyes opening slowly, her shoulders tensing as she sat up, she shook Faith's shoulder, speaking in a loud whisper.

"Faith…I think the monster's bent the rules about disappearing around grown ups."


	27. Chapter 27: Sparklers

Sparklers

"Callie, slow down with that thing, watch out for your hair!"

Callie Summers-Lehane paid little attention to her mother's call; in fact, she appeared not to have heard her at all as she continued to race around their front yard at a rate quite impressive even for a child with heightened strength and speed already well within her abilities. As the daughter of two Slayers, Callie could move more than swiftly when she wished, and as she zigzagged barefoot across the lawn, a lit sparkler clutched in each hand, her long, damp blonde hair flew behind her, often coming dangerously close to the sparkler's range.

Watching the little girl still clad in her Little Mermaid swimsuit, with watermelon juice stickily stained on her arms and chin, Buffy shook her head, lips thinning as she cupped her elbows, still eyeing her daughter anxiously.

"Your daughter is going to be walking around without a head by the time she's seven if she keeps this up," she muttered fretfully, and the woman behind her snickered, poking her playfully in the side.

"Walking around, really, B? Without a head? How's she gonna see, or, you know, breathe?" Faith pointed out.

Buffy poked her back much harder without turning towards her, not daring to take her eyes off Callie as she replied. Faith flinched away from her briefly, laughing.

"I wouldn't put anything past her…why didn't we pull her hair back, she's going to end up setting her whole head on fire. Who knows what she'll do when we start the actual fireworks…Callie Joyce, I said slow down!" Buffy raised her voice as Callie ran past again.

Faith smirked, shaking her head as she stepped closer, her eyes moving only casually towards her daughter before dismissing her actions and turning her attention back to Buffy.

"Let her go, babe," she said, sliding her arms around Buffy's waist from behind and pressing herself slowly against her back, little by little, and moving Buffy's long ponytail aside to press a kiss to the nape of her neck.

Both women were clad in shorts, cut offs in Faith's case, and halter tops, though Buffy's was a patriotic red, white, and blue for the holiday in comparison to Faith's black. As Faith kissed Buffy's neck again, her fingertips stroking over her arms, her breasts flattened against Buffy's bare upper back, Buffy's muscles relaxed instinctively, allowing her to lean back into the other woman's arms even as she continued to watch Callie with undiminished worry.

"She's going to fall right on top of those things and burn herself," she stressed out loud, and Faith snorted. Though Buffy couldn't see her face, she had no doubt that Faith was rolling her eyes.

"B, even if she did, Cal has Slayer healing, she'd probably survive the sparks of a freaking sparkler. It's not like it's a rocket flare. A little burn like that wouldn't kill her."

"Oh, so is that the criteria?" Buffy took her eyes off Callie for a few moments to turn her head back towards Faith, her voice rising, eyebrows shooting upward. "As long as she doesn't DIE it doesn't matter how badly she's hurt?"

"Damn, Buffy, no, and you know that's not what I said," Faith exhaled, exasperated, and undoubtedly rolling her eyes again. Loosening her hold on Buffy slightly and unhooking her chin from her shoulder, she poked her again, smirking.

"What are you gonna do when she's old enough to be out here slaying, if you're like this over freaking Fourth of July sparklers?"

"Oh, she won't be allowed to slay," Buffy replied immediately, the edge in her voice even more obvious now, and Faith laughed out loud, incredulous.

"You think we're gonna be able to stop a teenage Slayer who wants to slay, much less a teenage Slayer who just happens to be Callie? What are you gonna do, tie her up and drug her every night once she turns thirteen?"

Faith had a point…a point that at this moment, Buffy just could not handle thinking about.

"I guess I'll just lose my mind then when the time comes," she muttered, eyes glued to Callie and her sparklers again, and Faith grinned.

"Gotta find it first before you lose it…ow!" she yelped as she flinched away from Buffy's bruising fingers again, laughing out loud. Buffy tried to glower in her direction, but in spite of herself, her lips were twitching with their desire to smile at her.

"Ha ha, someone's about to lose all feeling in her toes if she doesn't watch it," Buffy muttered, her eyes moving deliberately towards Faith's exposed toes in her black flip flops before looking up at Callie again. The sparklers were fading out now, but still, one tiny little spark was enough to really hurt her, and Callie was still running and waving her arms around practically doing cartwheels with what amounted to skinny torches in Buffy's mind clutched in her hands.

"Callie!" she called again, and Faith sighed exaggeratedly, hooking her arm through Buffy's.

"Okay, that's it. If you won't find the fun on your own, I guess I'm just gonna have to lead you to it and thrust it in your hand."

Propelling Buffy towards the sparklers' box still lying on the grass, Faith selected two, stuffing one into Buffy's hand and lighting it before she could protest. "There you go. Play!"

Buffy glanced over at Callie, then down at the lit and brightly sparking sparkler in her hand; Callie's sparklers had died to barely more than a few errant sparks here and there, though this did nothing to lessen her exuberant flight around their yard, and the sparkler, once actually in her hand, was kind of tempting. She'd always loved them as a kid…somehow they hadn't seemed like instruments of death and mutilation in her own hands, even when she was a kid, but only when in her daughter's.

After all, Callie did take after Faith.

Hesitantly Buffy moved the sparkler in a circle in the air, still glancing occasionally at Callie. Enjoying the glowing ring that formed in the air, Buffy wrote her name in cursive, then repeated this action two or three times, attempting to make the letters perfectly formed before they began to blur. Watching her as she lit the second sparkler for her own self, Faith smirked, shaking her head.

"Self-centered much?" she nodded towards the trio of Buffys breaking apart in the sky, even as she began to write her own name once her sparkler was lit.

"You wrote your name too!" Buffy shot back, continuing to form her name over and over in the sky, and Faith yelled back with some smugness, both at having successfully distracted Buffy from their daughter and at having quickly formed a comeback.

"Wasn't finished, B!" she added 'Loves Buffy' in the air after 'Faith,' and Buffy smiled, her heart softening.

"I love you too, Faith," she replied, moving her sparkler to form a heart- only to see Faith add several more words that blurred together before Buffy could make them out.

"What did the rest say?" she asked her curiously, still idly forming hearts in the air, and Faith's eyes glinted mischievously in the glow of the sparklers' light, dimples flashing as she replied.

"Said 'Faith loves Buffy…even if she is a paranoid headcase.'"

Buffy narrowed her eyes, trying to appear entirely pissed and indignant, even as she struggled not to smile.

"Maybe Faith should start getting just a little more paranoid, being so close to a headcase with a stick of fire in her hand…"

Sparkler held high, she lunged at Faith with mock threatening posture, waving the sparkler back and forth as though to attack her with it. Taking this to be a challenge, Faith tore across the yard, barely missing smacking into the now-sparkler-less Callie, who was making her way back toward the sparkler box with the intention of selecting more. Legs pumping, hair whipping back quite forgotten as a careful fire hazard, the Slayers ran with wide smiles, breathless laughter, and feelings of utter freedom in the moment, the glow of their sparklers streaming in uneven lines behind them before fading into smoke in the night.


	28. Chapter 28: Callie's First Vampire

Callie's First Vampire

The little girl nearly stomped her way down the sidewalk, her small face fixed into as dark a scowl as any child only eight years old could manage to conjure. The long, ruffled pink skirt of her old fashioned dress flounced with every heavy step, and this only seemed to further anger her. It was likely that she would have also crossed her arms for added effect if it weren't for the pumpkin-shaped candy bucket she held in one hand and the curved wooden shepherd's staff in the other getting in the way. As it was, she managed to convey her irritation fairly dramatically, as she walked a fair distance ahead of the two adults accompanying her. She had not spoken to them since they left nearly an hour ago, other than to announce at top volume that even if they were walking with her, she wasn't walking with them, and how mean they both were.

This, however, had not deterred either one of her parents from enjoying their evening. If anything, it was adding to at least one person's amusement.

"Man, I know how to get her goat the next time she starts smarting off anyway," Faith Lehane snickered as she walked a good 30 feet behind her daughter, her arm casually looped through that of the blonde beside her. "I think even 600 calories of sugar and chocolate isn't gonna make her jolt out of that much resentment. Callie definitely got that supernatural turbo long-lasting pout from you, B."

"That's no pout, that's a scowl, and that came straight from YOU, Miss Broody Britches," Buffy shot back, knocking her shoulder lightly against the other woman's in protest. "And I do NOT pout…often. I…ponder with intense feeling."

"Broody britches?! You've been spending WAY too much time with Willow, you dork," Faith chuckled, shaking her head, and the painted, creepy grin spreading across her cheeks grew more malevolent in effect when she did genuinely smile. "And yeah right on the no-pout protest, let me guess, you're gonna say you don't' whine at all either, right?"

"I don't!" Buffy exclaimed, and then blushed, realizing her voice had risen to a suspiciously high pitch as she attempted to validate herself more convincingly. "I…express my displeasure out loud…in a slightly higher pitch than usual, on occasion, if you pay attention to that sort of thing…but that is NOT whining."

"You've been spending too much time with Xander too, and one of them is making you read a thesaurus," Faith laughed as she playfully bumped her hip against Buffy's, keeping an eye on the little figure ahead of them even as she teased. "Can't say I blame the kid for being pissed though. It's bad enough you made her wear some re-worked version of your old Little Miss Muffet costume instead of a zombie like she wanted-"

"It's Little Bo PEEP, Faith, she has a STAFF, not a TUFFET," Buffy corrected, rolling her eyes, and Faith continued, unfazed by this.

"With those frilly skirts and weird hat thing-"

"It's called a BONNET, Faith-"

"All that is bad enough for a kid that just wants to splatter herself with blood and rough up her clothes, but then you had to curl her hair too? I'm sorry B, but you're torturing the kid," Faith concluded with another snicker, shaking her head. "Ain't another word for it."

"Callie doesn't need to go as something gory, between you letting her watch those awful movies when I'm not home and her SEEING gore every time she slips past babysitters and follows us on patrol, the last thing she needs is more blood and guts in her life," Buffy countered, rolling her eyes and exhaling. This was clearly a conversation that had been repeated several times before. "And anyway, the curls are adorable, you can't be Little Bo Peep without blond curls!"

"They are not!" Callie Summers-Lehane turned her head back at her mothers, just long enough to yell back at them, and Faith grinned.

"Hey, nice going, B, you got her to break her vow of silence."

"She did not!" Callie retorted before seeming to realize her mistake. Turning her head back to focus on front of her again, she ran up to the porch of the next house, almost tripping over her skirt, blond curls bouncing in her haste that her mothers suspected had as much to do with getting away from them as getting candy.

Both her mothers grinned as they stepped on the sidewalk to watch her go between the next several houses, continuing their playful banter.

"Just because YOU like to be a cutesy blonde in frilly clothes…"Faith pointed out, looking Buffy up and down meaningfully.

The other woman's hair was held back with a black headband with a bow on top, and she was in a blue dress with a pinafore, white tights, and Mary Janes. She was, of course, dressed as Alice in Wonderland. She had suggested as an alternative for Callie to dress as a white rabbit, but Callie had maintained if she had to wear a bunny suit where some of her friends might see, she wouldn't go at all.

"What are you gonna make her do next year, B, put on your old cheerleader outfit and wave a pair of pompoms?" Faith smirked, and she was not surprised when Buffy appeared to be taking the suggestion seriously.

"That WOULD be really cute, I could have it cut down to size like this one-"

"MOMMY!" Callie shrieked, aghast, and nearly deafened the poor elderly woman who had been offering her treats on the porch step. Faith's wicked painted grin stretched again as she laughed, watching Callie almost sprint back to argue with them as fast as her long skirt would allow. "Mommy, you will NOT make me wear a cheerleader costume!"

"Well, the economy's bad, so it's probably a good idea to recycle stuff," Buffy replied, only half kidding, and Callie put the hand clutching her pumpkin bucket on her hip, huffing and holding herself at a distinctly Faith-like posture.

"Well, how come we never recycle one of Mama's costumes for me?"

Buffy's eyes slid over to look Faith up and down in the same measuring manner that Faith had earlier, shaking her head. Faith, as the Cheshire cat, was wearing a skin tight lavender bodysuit she had painted with pink stripes, cat ears and a tail, and she had painted her face to resemble the creature's leering grin. It was a cool costume, matches her Alice clothes, and on Faith, was also rather sexy…but it was also NOT what Buffy would choose for Callie.

"Mama's costumes barely fit Mama, let alone you," Buffy said, but Callie wasn't satisfied.

"Well I'm smaller than Mama, so they'd fit!"

"No, no they won't…ever," Buffy said hastily, emphatically shaking her head, and then, in an attempt to distract, pointed at the house beside the one Callie had just left. "Uh, go get candy, Callie, that's why you're here…hurry, before they run out! Run!"

Callie rolled her eyes and sighed with the long-suffering exasperation of someone considerably older than her years, shaking her head.

"I'm not like, SIX," she informed her mother. "I know you're trying to get rid of me. I'm going because I WANT to!"

She marched away with her head held high, though her attempt at dignity was somewhat marred by her bouncing curls and frequent attempts not to trip over her skirt.

Buffy sighed as she watched her go from the sidewalk, shaking her head. "And THAT she gets from you," she informed Faith, who just shook her head, again slipping an arm around her as she leaned lightly against her.

"Day's gonna come soon where she's not gonna let us come with her, let alone submit to you forcing her into a costume," she observed. "Couple of years down the road she's gonna be strong as us both. THEN what are you gonna do?"

"Hijack someone else's child? Hope that someone else we know has a child I can bully?" Buffy suggested, then sighed, slumping a little more fully near Faith beneath her arm and wrapping an arm around her waist as well. "Or I'll just cry."

"BULLY, was that MY Buffy admitting it's BULLYING she's doing?" Faith snickered, but her tone was gentle as she gave her a slight squeeze. "Don't you mean "helpfully guide and suggest her to a better, Buffy-approved costume choice" or something like that?"

"Something like that, yeah," Buffy muttered, a smile playing on her lips, and Faith squeezed her again, leaning her head down to Buffy's as she continued to tease her out of the prematurely sentimental mood that she seemed to be teetering towards then.

"You're small enough to look like a kid yourself, you could just join them next year. Blend right in."

"I am TWO inches shorter than you," Buffy huffed, elbowing Faith lightly in the side, and Faith laughed, dimples flickering into view as she spoke with deliberate mischievousness.

"Yeah, two inches less of height, and at least two inches less of boob and cup size."

Buffy elbowed her again, and Faith dodged her, laughing. "Hey, I like your little boobs just fi- hey, what's Callie doing?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Yeah, like I'm gonna fall for that. The second I turn around you're gonna laugh and HONK me or something…and Faith, that's really not appropriate with little kids around, seeing Alice in Wonderland get HONKED by her smiley cat just might traumatize for-"

But Faith's face, despite the painted grin, was serious, and she took Buffy's chin and forcefully turned it to face the little girl, following her own gaze. And Buffy, seeing what she was talking about, immediately sobered too, her body tensing.

Callie was standing in the front yard of a house two buildings down, talking to a grown man, her face tilted up to regard him as he spoke with her in what appeared to be a hushed tone. The man was dressed as a vampire, with a long black cape, old fashioned shirt and collar, and painted blood dribbling down his face and chin. Very stereotypical, but it wasn't the costume, cheap and overly dramatic as it was, that alerted the Slayers.

There were no other children near Callie and the man, he did not appear to own or have come from one of the houses giving candy, and he had no other children with him, which ruled him out as a father taking his kids trick-or-treating. So why was he wandering the streets in costume, alone, stopping to talk to kids…to Callie?

Only one idea came to their minds, straight out of the headlines, and neither woman took their eyes off him as they immediately began to move forward.

"He touches her and I stake him," Faith stated, and Buffy didn't argue, her hand moving to check for the two stakes securely strapped to her legs, covered by her dress's full skirt.

They were still a house away when they heard Callie say loudly and clearly, "You got it all wrong, mister. Real vampires don't' dress like that. The way you're dressed is dumb, no one REALLY dresses like that. That's just what people think."

"Callie!" Buffy blurted, partly an admonition for her rudeness, partly to alert both child and adult to her approach and the fact that she was watching, that Callie belonged to someone, that someone knew her name.

"She's right thought," Faith muttered just to Buffy as they quickened their pace. "People always go for the old school movie vamp look, but if a real vamp looked like that, we'd laugh our ass off."

"Well he does, Mommy!" Callie called back to Buffy, half turning from the man to look at her. "He should get a leather jacket, a long black one like Uncle Spike-"

"So real vampires don't dress like this, huh…leather jacket?" Long black coat? Okay," they heard the man dressed as a vampire say thoughtfully, nodding. "Hm…you'll have to forgive me, little girl, I'm new at this, and I guess no one ever told me that I wasn't in style…the movies are misleading, aren't they? Thanks for the tip, I'll keep it in mind!"

Then he seized Callie by the shoulders, his face shifting into the sinister appearance of a true vampire that was so very different from the plastic fangs and red paint of the imposters. Faith and Buffy gasped, horror rising in their throats, and broke into full out sprints, desperate to reach their daughter, to remove her from harm's path.

But it appeared that Callie did not need their protection. Because when the vampire grabbed her, letting out a fierce snarl, Callie showed no shock, no fear…in fact, she leveled him with a fierce glare of her own.

"HEY!" she hollered, and sharply twisted herself out of his grasp. Faith and Buffy were behind her just as the vampire took a step forward, arm outstretched to snatch her back to him- an arm that Callie audible broke with one karate chop. As the vampire howled, pained as well as infuriated, Callie took the end of her staff and drove it into his chest, still shouting.

"Get away, ugly ratface!"

As the vampire exploded into dust around her, Callie's eyes widened, and she looked around herself as if half expecting him to return. Seeing only her own staff, lightly covered with ash, she broke out into a broad grin and gave a little hop of excitement.

"Whoooa I staked a vampire! Mommy, Mama, did you see?! I staked my first vampire ever, he's totally dust everywhere! That was so wicked, he just went poof!"

Her parents could do little more than stare, mouths open, as their daughter danced clumsily around them, frequently tripping over her skirt, but not seeming to care anymore as she continued to celebrate what she now viewed as her best day and best costume ever.

"Is that why you made me wear this, Mommy? So I could have this wood thing to slay with? Oh thank you, that was so cool!"

Still grinning, she ran up the porch step of the next house, ringing the doorbell with renewed energy. It was another thirty seconds before either of her parents found words.

"Uh…found yet another alternate phrase for "bullying child into wearing cutesy costume?'" Faith remarked slowly, and just as slowly, Buffy nodded.

"Recycle same outfit for next year?" Faith went on quietly as Callie ran to the next house over, her eyes not straying from her back for a moment, and Buffy nodded again, much more fervently.

"Oh, yeah."


End file.
